The Time Games
by Punzie the Platypus
Summary: Well. That was largely unexpected. Of course, the TARDIS was known for taking them to seemingly random places. The Doctor and Rose just didn't expect a place called Panem, where fighting to the death is the norm and a place called District 13 is really, really strict. Largely CF and MJ compliant.
1. The CAPITOL!

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the Hunger Games or Doctor Who. I FINALLY FINISHED WRITING THIS STORY. It's long, just saying. :) Anyway, I figured that it's okay to have them go from canon stuff because, well, other people have made stories around minor characters in the Hunger Games going through the Games. This won't be completely a story about Rose and the Doctor going through CF and MJ, though. It has other stuff. Now, please ignore this HUGE note and enjoy the story. :)**

Rose cocked her head to the side as she looked at the center of the TARDIS. Her blonde hair was pulled back and she didn't look very happy as she said, "She's acting up again, isn't she?"

"Being a bit temperamental if you ask me," the Doctor said, racing around the controls, flicking a switch and pushing a code into the panel. He looked over to Rose and said loudly, "Hold on!"

Rose barely had a moment to comprehend what he was saying before she felt her feet tipping back; she let out a yelp as she fell to the floor. The Doctor, holding tightly to a lever, was scraping around the controls as if he was on ice. Rose reached out and grabbed a simple looking lever and held on for dear life as the TARDIS spun through space, sending them spinning around.

"Hold on!" yelled the Doctor as Rose nearly let go of the lever.

Rose listened, her stomach starting to turn as a headache began to creep into her head, which was spinning around from time turbulence.

The Doctor reached out a hand and his quick, long fingers pressed several buttons before slapping a large bronze button, and suddenly Rose felt limp as the TARDIS stopped moving.

Waiting a second in case it started up again, Rose slowly sat up and looked back to the Doctor, who was straightening his leather jacket and pressing a final button or two.

"That was a bit of turbulence," said Rose, unsteadily getting to her feet. She took a couple of steps and swayed on the spot.

The Doctor looked up and immediately started toward her.

"Sorry," he said apologetically, carefully helping her catch her balance. "A bit like sea sickness, huh? Never liked that feeling."

"Thought I'd be used to this by now," said Rose as she began to recover. She looked to the door and said, "Where do you think we landed?"

The Doctor grinned his spectacular grin and said enticingly, "Want to go see where?"

"Yeah!" said Rose with a grin.

The Doctor nodded excitedly and said, "Shall we?"

"Let's," nodded Rose and the two of them, arms linked, headed to the door leading out of the TARDIS.

Their two heads popped out and Rose's face grew critical as she said to the Doctor, "Where are we?"

Before them was a whitish part of a building, and around them was a couple of mysterious looking crafts that were flying off.

The Doctor frowned, his eyebrows drawn together as he said, "I don't know."

Rose looked around and saw patterns of a circular shape on the ground. She turned to the Doctor and said, "It looks like sort of a landing site."

The Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets and walking around a few steps stiffly in a thoughtful sort of way.

"Never been to this planet before," said the Doctor. He turned back to Rose and said, tipping his head slightly, "At least, I've never seen a planet before in this sort of state. No doubt we've been here before."

Rose nodded slowly and looking around, said thoughtfully, "Where is everyone?"

"I dunno," the Doctor said, spinning around so that his back was to Rose. "I'm going to go look around."

"I'll look a bit too, then," said Rose.

The Doctor turned to her and said, "All right, but," he pointed a finger at her, "stay near the TARDIS and please for the love of everything lovely, don't wander off."

"I know," said Rose with a slightly mischievous and annoyed smile. He could be awfully protective sometimes, but with good reason. She knew that he had lost great things, and that since she was the one person in his life at the moment, she needed to not worry him.

"All right then," said the Doctor, and he walked slowly around the top of the building and disappeared out of sight.

Rose smiled and she started to look around it. She saw some of the crafts in the sky and her brow became furrowed as she watched one suddenly pop up out of thin air. It was a greyish white and was within a hundred feet of the TARDIS.

After going around with the Doctor for so long, Rose's mind immediately thought of it as a spaceship. No doubt there had to be someone from this planet on it, and she knew that they needed to speak with someone in order to know where they were. She only hoped that they took kindly to her and the Doctor.

She'd have to be careful as she slipped closer to it, watching as a ladder suddenly descended from a hole on the bottom (it was not touching the ground at all. In fact, the craft itself was several feet in the air). She knew that it could contain an enemy, someone who wouldn't want her to be in their craft.

As a precaution, before she began to climb the ladder, Rose cupped her hands and said, "Hello! Is anyone in there?"

She heard nothing in reply, and looking behind her to check and see if anyone was behind her, her hands went to the rungs and to her surprise, she felt herself becoming very still, as if she could not move at all. She tried moving but remained quite still as the ladder slowly rose into the aircraft.

Her head peeked through and she bent back her head a bit to look inside as the ladder rose into the craft. It certainly looked like a spaceship. There was metallic, rectangular chairs that stuck to the walls without bottoms; plates of steel were stuck all along the walls. Gadgets she had no idea what they were lay on stainless steel tables. She looked around carefully and saw no one.

She felt the pull that kept her still quickly wear off, and she let go of the ladder and stepped onto the floor.

Straightening, the ladder started to move downward and she thought she heard a voice behind her, but when she looked around, she didn't see anyone. She said quietly, almost to herself, "Hello?"

She heard a noise, and she saw something approaching. Realizing that it could be something that could overreact, she instantly slipped behind a large extension wall.

She looked carefully from behind the wall and her breath hitched when she realized that the person coming toward her was a human. What planet were they on? She had seen many other humans on alien planets of course, but she had been counting on a weird alien of some sort.

Wait, London had aliens and it was on Earth. Could she be on Earth still? Could she and the Doctor still be on Earth? If so, they must be far into the future for there to be spaceships likes these. Normally no one could find so many in one place except maybe a museum or . . . .

"N.A.S.A.?" Rose whispered to herself. Who hadn't heard of the man on the moon? Were they going to the moon? She had never gone out into space without the Doctor, and the thought of not going with him or the TARDIS made her feel horrible.

She felt a little queasy at the thought of leaving the Doctor when he had told her to be careful and stay near the TARDIS. She gulped and was about to make a break for the ladder when it suddenly appeared again, this time with a young woman who looked muscular and another strange looking figure.

She looked down the hall to see the other figure coming closer.

For this being a spaceship, the figure, who turned out to be a woman wasn't wearing a spacesuit (or were they in a time that there was no need for space suits? Rose wished desperately she knew where they were), but rather a strange outfit that looked professional and clownish at the same time. Her hair was set in a weird style and Rose could tell she had some tattoos.

The woman was carrying a syringe, making Rose curious as she watched the woman approach the ladder and stick the syringe into the young woman's arm.

The girl hissed and she and the strange figure below her were released, and they headed down the hall.

The woman held onto the door and she disappeared.

Rose wondered why the woman had planted something or what into the young woman's arm when the ladder reappeared again, though empty. However, as it rose completely into the ship, a lid of sorts suddenly appeared and sealed over the hole, cutting them off from anything on the ground.

Rose stepped out of her hiding spot hurriedly and immediately went to the lid when she heard something over her head, like from an intercom.

"Take off in ten seconds," said the voice, and Rose let out a scared cry as she kneeled and began to pull at the lid, the one thing that was keeping her from her escape and her Doctor.

She frantically scratched at it, but it seemed to be magnetically stuck into the floor. The countdown looming over her head, Rose took a deep breath, trying to keep calm as the voice said, "Three, two, one."

At once, Rose felt like someone who pulling her backward. She fell back and her stomach leapt and with a groan, she realized she was reliving the feels of a raising aircraft.

"Oh no," she whispered frantically to herself. She slowly stood up after a moment, her mind reeling, but only processing one thing: She was away from the Doctor, and there was no way she could get out of this spaceship when it was in the air.

Rose looked around frantically, and found a window on the other side of the semi-narrow room, which was really more of a hallway. She hurried to the window and plastering her hands against the pane, she let out a horrified gasp. The place where she and the Doctor had landed was disappearing fast. They were nearly one hundred feet into the air already, and they were rising higher, and were moving far from the landing zone.

Rose gulped and her fingers raised and started to go through her hair, knocking out the band that was holding her ponytail. There was only two ways she could think of to get out of here: one, she would have to wait until the craft landed and get out somehow. Or two, she could find the other humans (for there had to be some driving this craft, unless, of course, they were not humans but aliens) and see if she could get help, even if they were evil. They were going to be the only way she could get out of this spaceship.

She cautiously started walking down to her left, which took her to a different part of the aircraft. Around her were doors and grey floors. She gulped slightly when she came to the end of the aircraft.

Carefully peeking out from behind a corner, she looked through a doorway. She could see the girl and the other figure. The figure looked incredibly hideous. It was a man, Rose noticed after a moment of thinking him female. He was wearing purple, tons of purple, and had a creepy looking haircut. Tattoos dug into his skin and Rose couldn't help but give a subtle wince when she saw that his fingers were embedded with diamonds.

Next to him wearing a green shirt and black pants and sporting a large bump on her arm was the girl, mid-twenties, with long, cascading curls that was pulled up into a high ponytail.

Both look unapproachable, but Rose knew that they were the only people that could help her. She was just about to get to them when the girl snapped, "I wonder how many tributes I get to kill this year."

Rose instantly shuddered and moved back a little. She caught her breath as she tried to calm down. Okay. This girl was planning to murder these . . . tributes. Rose now thought that this was a time that she needed to stay as calm as possible and wait for the spaceship to land. She knew she didn't know where it might land, but as she could see, the weird man and the girl weren't wearing spacesuits either, so hopefully, the planet (or ship, who knew) they landed on had air.

She leaned against the wall and found herself slipping down it into a sitting position. She took a deep breath and said, "Calm down, Rose. You'll get out of here, and, somehow, you'll find a way to contact the Doctor. He'll save you." She leaned back and sighed softly. She hoped that he would.

* * *

"Hello? Is anyone here?" said the Doctor, walking around slowly, his eyes looking about for signs of life. "Anyone a'tall?"

He was walking around the white thing which he discovered to be a dome that was on top of the place he and Rose had landed. Looking around, judging by circles on the ground and the fact that there was a lot wind, thinking him to be on a roof, it was no doubt a sort of landing pad.

Where there's a landing pad, there's bound to be aircrafts, and where there's aircrafts, there's beings flying them. The Doctor just wasn't sure where the beings (or the aircrafts, frankly) were.

"Hello?" he said, and no one answered. He shrugged and decided to head back to the TARDIS to wait for Rose and see if she had encountered anyone.

He could hear an aircraft getting ready to leave as he approached the TARDIS. He sauntered toward his time machine and looked beyond it. He was always a bit fascinated with other ships. He was a bit of a tinkerer, and ships were one of the things he liked tinkering with.

"Rose?" he called out nonchalantly, "Rose?"

He turned around in a little circle and said, "Rose, where are you?"

A bit puzzled, he went to check to see if she was behind the TARDIS. He didn't see her there, and confused, he looked around, and that was when he saw his companion's shoes disappear into one of the spaceships.

"Rose?" he asked questioningly as he began to walk toward the craft, which sounded like its engine was running.

He had walked a few yards over when he saw two more beings entering the craft and another human exiting it. Oh, good, someone to talk to. He quickly walked faster, though somewhere in his mind he wondered why Rose hadn't stopped the woman (for it was a female) and asked her.

He was almost at the craft when suddenly the ladder that the woman had been climbing folded up and the opening closed. His eyes went wide and his stomach went queasy when he saw the craft begin to move up, up and away.

"ROSE!" he yelled, but he didn't hear an answer at all. This was fairly bad.

He gulped and rushed to the woman who had just exited the craft, who was carrying a syringe and seemed to be ignoring him.

"Wait, wait!" he yelled, "that ship can't go! You have to stop it! Rose!"

"What?" the woman said in a voice that sounded high-pitched.

"Rose is in that ship! Rose Tyler, my companion! Rose, blonde hair, brown eyes, purple shirt, black pants! C'mon!" said the Doctor rapidly. "She's only nineteen and she's my responsibility and she's in that craft that just left and where does it go?"

The woman looked at him and began to run.

"Wait, please, we need to bring back that craft!" the Doctor said, pointing to it.

"HELP!" the woman yelled with a tone that sounded like she was saying a question.

The Doctor began to breath, heavily and quickly, as he watched the craft disappear into the clouds. Up there was Rose, someone he swore to protect.

"Her mother's not going to be too happy about this," said the Doctor quietly to himself in a worried voice.

He looked back to where the woman had gone and he noticed instead of the woman there was several white suited people who looked like the authorities.

"Oh, good, police, I need you, Rose-"

"Hands up and do not move in the name of President Snow and the Capitol!" said one of the figures.

The Doctor raised his hands, though he hadn't a clue why. He hadn't done anything. All he wanted to do was get Rose back.

He took a calming breath and said, "Good morning, officers. Um, I need a bit of help with something, you see-"

"No talking!" said the same figure, who the Doctor figured to be a man by the voice, which sounded masculine, though a bit high-pitched, like the woman's had been.

"Why not? I need to tell you-!"

"Stop talking in the name of the Capitol!"

"Capitol?" the Doctor said, turning slowly to take in the place, the name of which he knew now. "This is the Capitol?" he continued, turning to face the figures.

"I said stop talking!"

"What-"

"Hello, Peacekeepers," the Doctor heard a new voice say. He turned his eyes to see a man walking toward him. The man looked out of place in a suit, and had yellowish skin and greasy, blonde hair.

The Peacekeepers (as they were called) immediately put down their guns to their sides and the one that had been addressing the Doctor said, "Oh, Mr. Abernathy. Do you know this man?"

"Yeah, yeah, he's with me," said Mr. Abernathy, waving a hand. "He's . . . um . . a sponsor I was talking to."

He looked to the Doctor, who, though he knew nothing about what this man said, went along with, "Yeah, just wandered off looking for him."

"The negotiating room is three stories down," said the Peacekeeper.

The Doctor smiled and said, "Had to park my car. It's awfully hard finding parking spaces here, you know."

"Well, yes, of course," the Peacekeeper said, for he was a bit perplexed as to why this sponsor was parking his car on the roof. He shook his head, decided to not ask about how he did it, and said, "All right, but you have to leave now. The Games are starting soon."

"Ahh, yes, the Games," said the Doctor, nodding his head. Still having his hands up, he turned to Mr. Abernathy and said, "Shall we continue downstairs?"

"Yes, let's," and with Mr. Abernathy leading him to the elevator, the Doctor gave the Peacekeepers a slight wave.

Once the elevator's doors closed and Mr. Abernathy hit a button, they both turned to each other, Mr. Abernathy saying in an angry and annoyed voice, "Who are you?" and the Doctor saying, "Where's Rose?"

"Who's Rose?" Mr. Abernathy asked, confused.

"Ah, Rose. Rose Tyler is my companion, traveling companion," said the Doctor, "and at the moment, she's disappeared in one of the those aircrafts that's gone, and I need to get her back."

Mr. Abernathy sighed and said, "Okay, who are you?"

"You can call me the Doctor, Mr. Abernathy," replied the Doctor.

"Haymitch, actually. Just the Doctor?"

"Yeah, yeah, just the Doctor." He looked curiously around the elevator and said, "Where are we?"

"The Capitol," spat Haymitch.

"I meant which planet," said the Doctor, turning to look at Haymitch.

Haymitch looked annoyed as he said, "Earth. Panem."

"Panem," said the Doctor slowly, "never heard of that place."

"This used to be called America," said Haymitch, "that is, until the Capitol got its hands on it."

"Oh, so this is North America, then?" the Doctor said. "Fascinating, now tell me." He looked at Haymitch dead in the eyes and said firmly and seriously, "Where is Rose?"

Haymitch looked at him for a moment before the Doctor added, "I just saw her leave in one of those aircrafts. Where are they headed?"

Haymitch looked at the Doctor as if he was an alien of some sort (of course, he was) as they stepped out of the elevator. "They're headed to the arena."

The Doctor began to drain of color as he turned pale, and following Haymitch, he said, "What's the arena?"

"Don't tell me you don't know what an arena is, Doc," moaned Haymitch as they began to walk down the halls, which were becoming crowded.

"I know what an arena is, Haymitch, but what for?" asked the Doctor. His eyes widened as he said, "Don't tell me that gladiators are back in style."

"Not really. They're a bit like gladiators, though," grumbled Haymitch. "It's called the Hunger Games. Twenty-four kids go in, one comes out. They have to kill each other."

"Kids? KIDS are forced to KILL each other?" the Doctor said incredulously, horrified by the idea.

"Yeah. This year, because it's a quarter, the Capitol is mixing it up a bit. Victors are going in instead of regular kids. People who've won before."

"How long has this been happening?" the Doctor asked as they came to the end of the hall of elevators and walked into a large room. The Doctor's eyes went back to their normal shape and he said quietly, "That's a lot of people."

Around the big room was a bunch of people. Most looked like clowns, and they were clambering toward a counter, behind which were 22 people, all looking significantly different than the other people.

"What's going on here?" asked the Doctor as he followed Haymitch, for the man was beginning to make his way through the crowded room.

"Sponsors are putting their money on their favorite tributes," explained Haymitch irritably, shoving aside a young woman who looked like she was from a Shakespearean play. "It's a betting room. Are you stupid or something?"

"Is there a little shop of sorts? I do love little shops," the Doctor said absentmindedly before he shook his head and looked back to Haymitch, saying loudly and quickly, "but these Games, they have to kill each other?"

Haymitch turned to him as the crowd brought them near each other against and asked, "Did you bump your head or something or are you just brainless?"

The Doctor decided not to take that to heart and merely said, "I have to get Rose out of there. Is there any way I can get her out before she goes into the arena?"

"The Peacekeepers can catch her and try her as a criminal for ruining the Games," said Haymitch sardonically before turning and making his way to the counter.

The Doctor shook his head. "She's too smart to get caught by anyone. Will she be on the craft when it comes back?" He said this last hopefully.

"Probably not. They get searched to make sure everyone's off," said Haymitch, and the Doctor's face fell.

"Is there any way where she doesn't get hurt?" asked the Doctor.

Haymitch sighed as he tugged up a piece of the counter and made his way behind the counter, "Only if she wins the Games, Doc. Ugh, I need a drink."

"She has to win the Games?" asked the Doctor. He was once again panicking on the inside. The only way to win the Games was to kill people, and he knew Rose would not kill a person. She would never kill a human or even an alien. She needed to get out, though. He was most definitely not having her die on his watch, or on anyone else's, for that matter.

"Haymitch, we need to make sure she wins," the Doctor said as he hurried after Haymitch, who was entering one of the twelve doors lining the wall.

They entered a room filled with computer screens. The wall opposite the wall was covered in different sized screens, like a collage. Comfortable chairs were in front of it and a coffee table. To the door's left and right was a buffet and a strange servant looking person. Beds were in a corner and a private bathroom. It almost looked like you could survive days in here.

Haymitch sank into one of the chairs and said darkly, "'Fraid I can't let that happen, Doc."

"Why not?" the Doctor asked leaning over one the other chair's back, "why not? She's nineteen, so I made a promise to her mother-"

"I don't care if you made a freaking promise to Snow," hissed Haymitch, who was looking even more tired. "Have you ever thought that maybe there's people going in that arena that I want to win?"

"Who?" the Doctor asked in a curious and quiet voice.

"Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, the star-crossed lovers of District Twelve, both from my district. I promised the girl that the boy would survive, and it's a promise I intend to keep," said Haymitch before turning away from the Doctor.

The Doctor, mouth open, agape, said, "No, no, no, no, there has to be a way into there. I need to save her. I need her safe."

Silence filled the room. The only noise was the heavy sound of the Doctor's breathing. There-there had to be a craft he could hitch a ride on to get to her, there had to be a room he could answer that could stop the craft-

He turned and hurried to the door, but as soon as he opened it, he was met with the deafening sound of cheering Capitol citizens, bills in their hands as they tried to get to the sponsor table.

There was no way he could get through there. Even if he did, there would be Peacekeepers wondering why he was up there again. The crafts could have all already left. He gulped as he hoped that the TARDIS would be taken as a normal looking car in this strange looking city. He closed the door.

The hand that was holding the knob tightly was covered in sweat as he let go of the knob. His stomach plummeted. No. Not Rose. Not his companion. Not the only person who made him open up and feel better and not feel so awful and lonely and pained about Gallifrey. The only person he could rely on, the only person he could confide in.

The only person he knew he loved. No. Not Rose.

Haymitch's voice behind him said, "Ya know, if she survives until the end, I can get her out of there."

"What?" the Doctor said, turning around, a flicker of hope in his voice.

Haymitch sighed and said, "I guess, when . . . . if she lives until the end, I can save her."

"How?" asked the Doctor, "why can't you save her now?"

"It's complicated," said Haymitch, looking like he didn't want to discuss it any further.

"Promise that you can get her out, though?" asked the Doctor seriously.

Haymitch said after a moment of inward deliberation, "Yep," and pointed to one of the chairs. "Might as well get comfy to watch the Games."

The Doctor quietly walked over and settled himself down into his chair. He felt guilty, very guilty, about Rose, and he wished desperately that he had a way to get her out. She could die within minutes. Thing is, there was nothing he could do but wait and watch his best friend try to survive almost certain death.

There was nothing worse he wanted to do.

**I hope you liked it, and thank you for reading!**


	2. Let the 75th hunger Games Begin!

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Doctor Who or the Hunger Games. Second chapter! And things will be explained, don't worry. :3**

Rose hung near the closed ladder door. She didn't see any people there, and it seemed a good place to be when the spaceship stopped. She had to find a way to escape. She had to. She exhaled and decided to just follow the girl (for she looked like the only normal person on this spaceship, even if she sounded like she was going to murder people). She sat, getting her breath back, her knees drawn to her chest, her eyes darting about on occasion.

She had listened to the Doctor. Well, kind of. She had stayed near the TARDIS, but now she was being shipped off to wherever this spaceship was going. The place must have people, for the girl was wondering how many she'd kill. Why did she want to kill? That was what Rose was wondering. Were they going to a battle of some sort? Surely not, for the man had been dressed like a clown and the girl was wearing ordinary clothes.

Suddenly Rose felt the spaceship come to a stop, and the windows were blocked and lights came on, and she looked up to see the clown and girl coming toward her. She was hidden behind the wall, but she still felt wary as she watched them go down the ladder.

She stood up and looked around. There was no one else that she could see. She would have to follow them. Staying here didn't seem to be a very good option, especially when suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw people coming toward her, and they were all carrying weapons.

They were away a bit so that they couldn't spot her, and so with a gulp and a prayer, Rose hurried to the ladder as it rose up once more and went down on it.

She turned and saw a tunnel of sorts. The clown and girl were walking through it, and she decided to quickly follow them.

She followed them, staying in the shadows and trying to keep her breathing quiet as they walked through the tunnel. They went through many twists and turns, and Rose could swear that they were going underground. They were definitely walking downhill and her hands were finding the walls to becoming damp.

Finally she saw the two go through a door, and she hurried and caught the door before it completely closed. The room through the door had tables, chairs and sofas. There was a comfortable looking chair and a small buffet. A shower was there as well.

Her eyes were concentrated on the two people, though. She could barely see through the crack in the door, and so after nearly fifteen minutes, she quickly slipped through and hid in one of the corners, which was actually very dark.

The clown was zipping up a zipper on the girl, who had changed her clothes into a blue diving suit and a purple ring filled with a strange liquid.

"You can go now, Flastia," snapped the girl as the man finished zipping her, "I don't need you here anymore."

"But I must make sure you go in the tube-"

"I'm not an idiot, Flastia. I'm not going to be stupid; I'll go in the tube like everyone else does, gosh, Flastia!" snapped the girl. She growled as she said, "I don't need you. Go away, I want a few minutes to myself, and I don't want you to ruin it!"

"Fine," said Flastia, who sounded like he was asking a question. Rose raised an eyebrow at his strange accent. "I'll be leaving."

He turned as he opened the door, "Uncultured district swine."

The girl sneered at the man as he closed the door. Rose became aware that the door made a clicking noise, and with a gasp, she rushed to the door. Her hands on the knob, she began to frantically try to open it.

"C'mon, c'mon, please open! Oh, please, open!" she yelled, pounding on the door.

"Who the hell are you?" the girl yelled.

"Open! Oh, please, open!" shrieked Rose. After a moment, though, her hands slipped from the knob in shock, and she turned dazedly around.

"Who are you?" shrieked the girl angrily. "What are you doing here!?"

"I'm-I'm Rose," Rose managed to choke out, "and I need to get out of here."

"Well, Rose, the only way out of here is through that tube," said the girl, and she pointed to a glass tube that had a bottom that looked it like it could be an elevator. The girl's eyes grew sharp as she hissed, "And that's MY exit!"

"You can only use it once?" asked Rose.

"Yeah, and while I'm gone, you can get caught by the Peacekeepers," said the girl as she rapidly hurried toward the plate. She stood carefully in front of it and turned gloatingly toward Rose.

"Peacekeepers?" asked Rose. "Where am I? Who are you? What are Peacekeepers?"

"I'm Cashmere and the Peacekeepers will take you for obstructing the Hunger Games," said Cashmere sneeringly. "So I suggest you get ready for hell."

Rose, thinking rapidly, knew that she didn't want to go with a bunch of Peacekeepers.

"Take me with you," said Rose suddenly, as if she was surprised by the idea herself.

"What? No!" said Cashmere indignantly. "Why would I have to help someone like you?"

"Look," Rose said, thinking fast, "you have to go kill people?"

"Yeah, it's the Hunger Games," said Cashmere, as if it was obvious, "twenty four people go in, one comes out. Broadcasted live for allllll to see."

Rose's eyes grew wide as she said, "You-you mean that twenty three of them-?"

"Die. Yeah, and I intend to win," said Cashmere, pointing to herself, "and if you join me, which you will NOT, I'll have to kill you."

Rose knew there was only one thing and one person who could ever be able to get her out of this situation.

"Cashmere," she said slowly, "you don't have to kill anyone. Look, I have this friend, the Doctor-"

"They don't allow doctors in the arena," said Cashmere.

"No, no, his name IS the Doctor. If you get me out of here, he can help us, BOTH, in the arena. Look, I'm not sure he'll be able to save me from the authorities" - she wasn't so confident that she'd make it unscathed if she got caught by people in this country, wherever she was - "but he can save me from the arena, and you too. You just have to let me go in the tube with you."

Cashmere frowned as she said, "No one can beat the Capitol."

"But the Doctor could beat the-the Capitol," said Rose, "he could save us. You just need to help me get out of here and not get captured by the . . . what do you call them?"

"Peacekeepers," replied Cashmere quickly.

"Yes, whatever, these Peacekeepers. With him, he can help me, but the only way for him to do that is to know where I am, and the only way he's going to see me is if I find a way out of here!" If the Doctor just managed to look at a TV and see her . . . .

"Tough luck, then," said Cashmere, and she started to step on the plate when Rose shouted, "PLEASE! You have to listen to me! If the Doctor sees me, he can save me, and I'll make sure that you get saved too!"

"You don't defy the Capitol," said Cashmere darkly, and she stepped onto the plate and turned to Rose, her arms folded.

Rose looked at her, her hands shaking, and then she stomped forward, saying, "Doesn't matter, I'm getting on there."

"No, you're not!" yelled Cashmere, but Rose started to enter the tube, despite Cashmere's pushing and shoving and punching.

"Get out!" yelled Cashmere.

"No!" yelled Rose, and she managed to squeeze in long enough for the clear door to swirl around the tube and click into place.

Rose sighed as they began to go up. It was very scrunched, but she had managed to get on.

Cashmere looked at her with a face filled with murder as she said, "Hold onto me!"

"Why?" asked Rose.

"Do it now or else!" shouted Cashmere.

"Okay . . ." said Rose and she hugged Cashmere very tightly as they emerged, the tube vanishing from them.

"You move at all and you're blasted to bits," seethed Cashmere, and Rose felt a shiver of fear run down her spine. She held on even more tightly to Cashmere and closed her eyes, not daring to look around to see where they were.

She heard Cashmere muttering something angrily under her breath as a voice filled the air.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games begin!" rang through the salty air and Rose dared not move. She only did a minute later when a gong sounded and Cashmere immediately shoved Rose away, causing her to fumble and disappear into the ground.

Rose gurgled and shrieked when she realized that Cashmere had pushed her into water. She instantly flapped her arms about and using her feet, pushed herself back up to the surface. She sucked in breath and looked about, panicking inside. All around her was water, nearly nothing but. Looking around, she saw a small strip of land and immediately swam to it, launching herself to it.

Using it to keep afloat, she climbed onto it and looked about. It seemed like the piece of land she was on was part of a wheel. She blinked, gasped and looked around. She was standing on a gigantic wheel that was floating on top of water.

How was this possible?

Making things even stranger, on top of the sandy center of the wheel was a cornucopia. Rose gasped and looked around, seeing the water go for hundreds of yards.

Not only was there a cornucopia and a wheel, but there was a bunch of other people in here as well beside herself and Cashmere. There was a man missing an arm and a girl with a long, dark braid standing on the cornucopia's beach along with a man in his fifties and a very handsome young man.

All of this was starting to get confusing until Rose saw the handsome young man kill the man in his fifties with a trident he had picked up from the cornucopia.

Rose let out a scream and started to look around frantically for land, real land, not this strip and DEFINITELY not that beach. All in her immediate vision was water, but in the background, she could see a beach and some dense greenery.

She had to get to that beach, but would she have to swim all the way? She straightened up, ready to swim, when she saw a woman a few yards away holding onto one of the plates. She looked dazed, and a bit crazy looking. She was shaking, and Rose knew that it was just a matter of time before she went down.

Without a thought more for her own safety, Rose ducked under the wood and started to swim around the edge of the wheel toward the woman.

She just reached the woman when another woman popped up. She had short, brown hair and looked very mad at Rose as she said, "Get before I kill you!"

Rose looked at her, shocked for a moment, but realized that the woman didn't have a weapon.

"What are you going to do? Drown me?" asked Rose as she bobbed up and down, the shaking woman nearly slipping off before both Rose and the woman hurried to get her.

The other woman yanked the shaking woman toward her and said, "Let go, I NEED Nuts, now get!"

Rose looked a bit confused as she said, "You need 'nuts?'"

"Her," said the woman, "NOW LET GO BEFORE I DO DROWN YOU!" And that's when Rose saw the determination and danger in the woman's eyes. Still, she gulped and remained calm as she said, "No."

"Johanna," a voice said, and all three of them turned to see a man holding up a man who looked a bit worried and nerdy and had black hair. Rose gasped when she saw that the man was stabbed in the back with a knife. In the man's other hand was an axe. "I've got Beetee."

"Yeah," said Johanna, "and I'll have Nuts when SHE LETS GO!"

"Hey, what are you going to do to her, anyway?" asked Rose, not about to be abandoned, "what?"

"I need her, NOW LET GO!" shouted Johanna. "LET GO!"

"Please, c'mon, I-I . . . let me come with you!" fumbled Rose.

Johanna looked at her incredulously and hissed, "No!"

"Please, I need your help. The-the Doctor, please, if you keep me alive, he can help me and you, all of us!" said Rose, though she didn't even know what she was saying.

"The Doctor?" Johanna said, and suddenly she realized that Rose was not supposed to be here. "Who are you? How the hell did you get here?" Her voice grew so quiet that Rose could barely catch what she was saying. "Doctor? Is he with Haymitch? Are you supposed to help us?"

"Wha-what?" said Rose, and she realized that Johanna was now not screaming at her to let Nuts down. "Yes . . .YES! He's-he's with Haymitch," she whispered frantically, "they-they have a plan."

"How come I wasn't told of a doctor?" asked Johanna.

"Johanna! C'mon!" yelled the man holding the nerdy man as he came closer. "The Careers are going crazy!"

Rose suddenly realized that she could hear screams and such and the water around them was slowly turning red.

"He's new, he just came on this morning," gasped Rose.

"I wasn't told anything," said Johanna, and she turned to the man holding Beetee and said, "Blight, you know her?"

"No, but she says she knows Haymitch. She must know the plan," said Blight, struggling to hold onto to Beetee, who was looking a bit bad with a wound in his back.

Johanna snarled and said, "Fine, you can come with us." She let go of Nuts and said, "You can babysit Nuts."

"All right, I will," replied Rose.

Johanna turned back with a scowl to Blight and said, "Where's Katniss and Lover Boy?"

Blight shrugged, and Johanna began to look around frantically. Rose looked around as well, though she didn't know who Katniss or Lover Boy was.

"Great, now we have to go find them," seethed Johanna. "Let's get to shore and find them!" Rose was not sure why they needed Katniss and Lover Boy, but decided not to question Johanna or Blight, for they seemed to be the leaders and she needed them to keep alive.

They all managed to get to shore. Blight had the knife from Beetee's back in his belt as he said, handing her the axe, "You lead."

"Fine," said Johanna in her angry voice, which Rose started to take as her normal voice.

With that, the strange five headed into the forest, Rose helping Nuts, who she found out to be really named Wiress, Blight supporting Beetee and Johanna walking ahead of them, hacking at the vegetation with her feet.

They said nothing. Even with all the cameras Rose was sure they had that would be watching them, there was another reason they didn't talk. Rose was not sure what time of year it was here, but it was freaking HOT. She was sweating bullets and Wiress was getting harder to hold onto. At about two in the afternoon, they stopped for a breather.

"All right, we need to eat something," said Johanna, and without more than a, "Stay here," she headed out into the forest.

"Is she all right in there?" asked Rose, turning to Blight.

"She's Johanna," said Blight.

Rose nodded slowly, not exactly sure just being Johanna qualified to her to go in the jungle by herself, and took a deep breath before she turned to Beetee, who was sitting on the other side of her.

"How's your wound doing?" asked Rose.

"I don't think it's too deep," said Beetee. "It's a thick fabric to have been cut through."

"Well, I hope you feel better," said Rose quietly with a tiny smile, and he nodded and replied, "Thank you."

Rose's eyes noticed his bunched up hand and she asked, "What's in your hand?"

Beetee opened his fist to reveal a bunch of wire.

"Ha! Wire? You couldn't get anything else?" Rose turned to see that Johanna had returned fairly quickly, her hand filled with round brown things that looked like nuts.

Beetee quietly looked at the ground and Blight asked, "What are those?"

"Dunno, nuts or something, first thing I could find besides leaves," said Johanna.

"Are they poisonous?" asked Blight.

"Ask her," said Johanna, and Rose realized that she was looking at her. In a second, her hands reached up and caught the nut Johanna threw her.

"Try it," said Johanna, and Rose, frowning, carefully took several minutes to peel the hard nut. Once she had enough exposed, she took a nibble, hoping that it wasn't poisonous. If she didn't try it, Blight had his knife and Johanna had her axe and neither knew that she didn't know where the Doctor was nor what he was doing.

She instantly made a horrified face. "Tastes bloody disgusting," she choked.

"Feeling bad?" asked Johanna.

"No," and Rose coughed, "that's nasty!"

"It's food, it'll do," said Johanna, and she tossed some to each of them before saying sharply, "we need to keep going,now!"

Frowning slightly, Rose stood up and helped Wiress and they started through the thick jungle. She was already getting thirsty in this heat, but she did not want to stop and complain to Johanna and Blight, both of whom were hostile toward her and Wiress and Beetee. She could only listen to them, hope to survive, and hope that the Doctor would figure out something for her rescue.

* * *

The Doctor could barely watch the bloodbath. He did, with blank and hard eyes, watching as these people, who looked so civilized on their plates, went and attacked and killed each other. He had leaned forward, searching for Rose, and saw her talking with an angry short haired young woman next to a woman who was shaking.

"Rose, Rose," he whispered to himself. She had made it into the Games. It was just a matter of getting her out.

"She's talking with Johanna," said Haymitch. The Doctor shot Haymitch a quick glance before he turned back to the screen, his eyes searching anxiously for anyone out there who was trying to kill Rose.

After a moment, Johanna and Rose stopped shouting at each other and a man with whom Haymitch said was Blight, who had a man in his arms who was struggling with a dark wound, started to talk to them.

Within a few minutes, the four of them plus Wiress ("Johanna calls her Nuts," muttered Haymitch) swam to shore and headed out into the jungle, Johanna not looking too happy.

"Where are they going?" asked the Doctor as the screens turned to mostly the cornucopia. The cornucopia's beach began to become red as well as the water around it as the heftiest tributes that Haymitch called the Careers started to take down tributes with the weapons.

"They're going to go find my tributes and the ones from Four," said Haymitch, sitting back in his chair. He looked around and sighed, saying, "Damn, I wish I had some alcohol right now."

The Doctor didn't pay any attention to him. He kept his eyes on the screen in the corner that kept an eye on the group of five with Rose. She was helping Wiress while Blight took care of Beetee and Johanna cut ahead of them.

His hand went up and touched the screen where Rose was walking. How could he have abandoned her, just left her, in this strange Capitol?

"I'm sorry, so sorry," he said quietly.

The room grew silent for a few minutes. The Doctor too, keeping his eyes on Rose, leaned back in his chair, his hands in a sort of praying position in top of his nose.

The two men watched as things grew quieter at the cornucopia. Everything was quiet until suddenly the door behind them flew open and a woman appeared between the Doctor and Haymitch, her hands on the back of each chair, her face turned to Haymitch. From what the Doctor could see, she was wearing a gold colored wig and golden colored clothes as she said excitedly, "Haymitch, Haymitch, did you hear? It's the talk of the betting rooms, it's the talk amongst the sponsors, goodness, it's all over Panem!"

"What?" asked Haymitch, though he sounded very disinterested.

"Haven't you seen her? There's a girl in the arena _who's not from any of the districts_, HAYMITCH!" said the woman excitedly. "Everyone is going crazy! Do you think the Gamemakers will fish her out?"

"Well, let's hope not. I doubt she'll stand a chance against your Gamemakers," said the Doctor, and the woman swiveled around and let out a shriek.

"Effie, the Doctor. Doc, your worst nightmare," said Haymitch, sinking lower into his seat, his eyes still attached to the screen.

"Hello there, Effie," said the Doctor brightly, for he was nearly always bright when he met someone new who wasn't threatening.

Effie put a hand to her heart and said, "Oh, hello there, Doctor. Do-do you have any other names?"

"Nope, just the Doctor," said the Doctor, "and that girl who's in the arena, that's Rose."

"Oh, you know her?" asked Effie, fluffing up her wig as she looked at the Doctor. Haymitch turned his eyes slightly and shook his head at her.

"Yeah, she's my companion," said the Doctor as he straightened and bent forward so that his folded arms were on top of the volume panels on the almost tall bench-like structure in front of him. "She accidentally went into one of those hovercrafts and now . . ."

"She's in the Hunger Games," said Haymitch flatly.

"My goodness. What will the Gamemakers do about her, Haymitch?" asked Effie, turning to the mentor.

"For his sake," Haymitch said, turning to look at the Doctor, who was looking back at him, "hopefully they'll just leave her alone. After all, it's not like she's doing anything."

"But what if she wins? What happens then? How will she do the Victory Tours with no mentor-"

"I'm her mentor," said the Doctor, for he had already noticed that was what Haymitch was, and at the moment, he was acting like a mentor.

"Oh, good," said Effie, looking tremendously relieved as she looked to the Doctor. "I'm happy that she'll be all right." She leaned down and said, "Doctor, you never told me where you were from?"

"Ahhh . . . somewhere far away," said the Doctor, leaning away slightly.

"On the other side of the Capitol?" asked Effie, her eyelashes going up and down.

"Nah," the Doctor said, shaking his head. "No, um . . . just far away."

"Really?" asked Effie, and Haymitch sighed and grabbed her bow that she had tied around her skinny waist and pulled her away from the Doctor.

"Haymitch!" said Effie, straightening and looking like she wanted to swat Haymitch.

The Doctor straightened and said, "So, um, do we just wait, then?"

"Until the end or until they need something," said Haymitch, standing up. Effie looked at him huffily as she fixed her wig. "I'm going to see if I can get some sponsors for these kids. We're going to need as many as we can get."

"What should I do?" asked the Doctor as Effie and Haymitch headed to the door.

"Act like a mentor. Keep an eye on them," said Haymitch before he let Effie go through. "Just . . ." he sighed and closed the door behind him.

The Doctor turned back from the closed door and looked at the massive array of screens. On them were several different angles. There was some sickly looking tributes crawling around. There was some hefty looking Careers dividing up the weapons; Rose was still walking with her group, and the Doctor silently wished that she WOULD survive and not leave him.

"C'mon Rose, you can do it," he murmured under his breath when he saw her trying nuts, which didn't seem poisonous. After her group was all given nuts, they continued walking, leaving the Doctor's eyes to wander, knowing that Rose was protected by four other people, including a girl with an axe.

Haymitch's tributes, the girl with the braid and the blond boy, were walking with the tributes from 4, a handsome young man and an old lady who resembled a raisin.

The Doctor regained his position with his fingers clasped over his nose when suddenly the blonde haired boy hit some invisible force and was thrown back.

The Doctor immediately straightened and started to call loudly, his eyes never leaving the screen, "Haymitch, HAYMITCH!"

At his voice, Effie calmly strolled in and said, "What happened?"

"One of his got shocked by what seems to be some sort of magnetic force field. He was the wrong kind of magnetic and he was rejected, and knocked out," said the Doctor, getting out of his chair and standing in front of the biggest of the screens, which was portraying the knocked out boy.

"Peeta!" shrieked Effie, and she instantly disappeared out the door to fetch Haymitch.

The Doctor watched, his knuckles white as they gripped the panel, as the handsome young man bent over Peeta, who has his eyes closed and he didn't look like he was moving.

"Peeta!" yelled the braided hair girl, and she was shoved, nearly punched out of the way so that the handsome man could start performing CPR on Peeta.

The Doctor's stomach turned at the sight and he found himself whispering, "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon. . ."

Their other companion, an old woman, watched from her tree that she was propped up against as the girl breathed heavily and the handsome man began breathing into his mouth.

Effie and Haymitch burst in, Haymitch first. He lunged toward his chair and watched, saying, "What the hell happened?"

"Peeta hit a magnetic force field. With him not being the proper magnet, it propelled him. I think his heart stopped," said the Doctor.

"Finnick is KISSING him!" Effie shrieked.

"He's performing CPR, princess," Haymitch grumbled quickly, his eyes on the screen.

The three of them watched, spellbound, as Finnick pumped at Peeta's chest and breathed into his mouth, bringing his lungs back to life. They waited anxiously for minutes, the Doctor's knuckles growing whiter, Haymitch's face more sullen and Effie's face purely frightened.

Within several minutes, however, Peeta let out a little cough and Finnick leaned back.

The braided girl shoved forward and says, close to Peeta, "Peeta?"

He replied weakly and Haymitch let out a breath as he said, "The star-crossed lovers remain."

"Oh, thank goodness," said Effie, fanning herself with her hand. "I-I need to sit down." She walked over and sat on one of the beds behind the Doctor's chair.

The Doctor, a thoughtful frown on his face, slowly sat back down in his chair, his eyes still on the biggest screen, his thought process saying that they would only show Rose if something was happening within her group. His eyes looked about the braided girl and Peeta and he said softly, curiously, turning to Haymitch, "What do you mean? Star-crossed lovers?"

"You HAVEN'T heard of the star-crossed lovers?" asked Effie, surprised and loud, who, seemingly fully recovered, went on tiptoe (a hard feat in high heels) and took her place between Haymitch and the Doctor. "They're only the most famous couple in Panem! Oh, the star-crossed lovers. . . ."

The Doctor said in a polite voice, "I wasn't asking you."

Effie nodded her stilted head and said, "Oh, Haymitch, tell him! Tell him! He must know about Katniss and Peeta!"

Haymitch sighed, one of his hand mopping his face, stopping at his stubbled chin. "Do you want to know?"

"I really wouldn't mind knowing," said the Doctor, shrugging as his eyes flicked away from Haymitch a moment to look at Rose. She was simply walking, an arm around Wiress's shoulders to keep her up, her face showing a bit of frustration but the Doctor knew that she was keeping it all inside.

Haymitch sighed as his tributes started walking again and started to explain to the Doctor the story of the star-crossed lovers of District 12.

"That's amazing," said the Doctor after Haymitch finished, his face annoyed and his voice gone raspy.

"Isn't it?" sighed Effie. She had pulled up a chair between them and was looking admiringly at the Doctor. Haymitch threw her a look and then sighed.

"So . . ." the Doctor said, "she's pregnant?" He said this making quotes.

"Yes," said Effie, and for the first time since the Doctor met her, she sounded tearful. "Isn't it just the saddest thing? Newly married with having a child and then thrown together into the arena! A truly tragic love story." She pulled out a hanky and started to sniffle, dabbing at her eyes dramatically.

"Yeah, a kid," said Haymitch. He shifted around in his seat and said, "Poor kid."

The Doctor nodded slowly to himself. By the way that Haymitch had described that part of the story, he knew that it was fake. It was so blatantly obvious it was very weird of Effie not to have noticed that the whole thing was a setup.

The Doctor turned back to the screen, and he immediately saw Rose. She was with her group, in the corner screen. Left off, most likely not the camera being broadcasted to all of Panem, but she was still there, she was still walking and Johanna had not got into a fit of temper and killed her yet.

Rose smiled as they walked and the Doctor couldn't help but smile as well.

"You'll be all right," he said quietly, to her, even though she was very, very far away from him. He only hoped that the magnetic force field didn't get her first.

**Yay! I hope you liked it, and thanks for reading!**


	3. Blood Rain and Bananas

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Doctor Who or The Hunger Games. I was going to update yesterday but I went to the mountains and IT WAS GORGEOUS. Thank you for the feedback!**

The three people in District 12's mentor room remained silent as they watched the Games. Late afternoon, after several hours of walking, Haymitch's tributes and District 4 start to make a campsite a few feet from the force field, which they keep a wary eye on.

Katniss went off to see if she could find water and suddenly a large amount of cannons go off.

"What's that? What's that with the cannons?" asked the Doctor, waving his hand around as he looked at Haymitch.

"Every time a cannon fires, that means that a tribute is dead," replied Haymitch, looking at the screen and looking a bit worse for wear.

"How many was that, then?" said the Doctor.

"Eight," said Effie, powdering her cheeks. "We'll find out who they all were tonight."

"Yeah, real excited for that," the Doctor said sarcastically, shifting in his seat.

Effie shifted in her seat as well and said lightly, "How are Peeta and Katniss and what's-her-name and Finnick doing?"

"Horrible," said Haymitch quickly.

The big screen was filled with the four people in question. Finnick and Mags (the Doctor paid attention) were busy making a hut with mats of leaves and Peeta was peeling nuts when Katniss came over with a rat, saying she couldn't find any water.

"They need water, Haymitch," Effie said quickly, turning to the mentor.

"Has she already looked?" the Doctor asked, frowning slightly. He waved a hand around and said, "There got to be some water there. They were just near a bunch of water this morning. Maybe it's on the ground, or in the trees, or something."

"It IS in the trees," said Haymitch.

The Doctor looked at him and said, "What? You mean these trees have water fruits, like bananas or something?"

"No," growled Haymitch, and he pulled in a screen focused on some wildlife near some of the yellow tributes that were crawling about. He pointed to a rat licking at a tree and said, "It's like sap."

"Oh, I get it," the Doctor said enthusiastically.

"It's just a matter of getting the girl to notice it," Haymitch said through his teeth.

"How is she supposed to know how, Haymitch!?" Effie said, looking frantically at him. "You have to do something!"

"You have something you can send her, Haymitch?" asked the Doctor, looking to Haymitch.

"There's something, but I'm going to need a few more sponsors to get it," he said slowly. "Need to speak with Four's mentors, too."

"What?" the Doctor said.

"Mags and Finnick's mentors," Effie explained excitedly, "they might have some sponsor money they can pool with ours, Haymitch!"

"I guess," muttered Haymitch.

"Well, do it! It'll be helpful for both Katniss and Peeta, and Finnick," and Effie, at first sounding concerned, turned into a sighing, dreaming mess as she watched Finnick move about in the arena.

The Doctor paid no attention to her as he looked over to Haymitch and said, "C'mon, how are they supposed to think that the trees have water in them, or is that something that's normal around here?"

"No, it isn't," said Haymitch, sounding irritated. Finally, he growled and stood up, saying, "I hate doing this," and he opened the door, revealing someone who looked very tan.

"Conso, one of the mentors for Four," Effie whispered as Haymitch let a red-haired servant looking girl into the room before he closed the door.

The Doctor, upon noticing the servant girl, asked Effie, "Who's that?"

"Doctor," she said, not even bothering to be quiet, "that is an Avox, a traitor, and you're not to talk to them except in an order."

"Why not?" asked the Doctor, and not even waiting for an answer from Effie, he looked to the Avox and said, "What's your name, eh?"

The girl, her head bowed, quickly put her tray on the already full buffet and then stood against the wall, not looking up.

"She can't talk, Doctor," said Effie quietly before she turned back to the screen.

The Doctor looked concerned as he said, barely moving his lips, "Why not? She ordered not to speak at all? Avox, you can speak if you want to, go ahead."

"She doesn't have a tongue," Effie hissed.

The Avox bowed her head even more, her red hair bouncing back at the Doctor, who looked very mad but calm.

"Why did she have her tongue cut out?" said the Doctor, finally turning to face Effie.

"She is a traitor, Doctor, and it isn't good manners to ask about things like this," said Effie quickly in a firm tone, and with that, she fluffed up her wig and stopped the conversation.

The Doctor threw her a look before he looked back to the Avox.

"You can leave now," said Effie, not looking back as she applied some lipstick. The Avox nodded, even though Effie didn't see her do so, and turned to open the door.

The Doctor cleared his throat and whispered, "I'm so sorry," very, very quietly. The Avox paused for a second, and to his surprise, she gave him the slightest nod before she left the room.

The Doctor watched her leave before he slowly turned back to the screens. What he wanted to know was what kind of a barbaric country was this Panem that sent their people into an arena to kill each other like the gladiators and turned their traitors into serving mutes?

He sighed and leaned against his chair, and his eyes caught on Rose. If she wasn't there in the arena, in danger, he would be doing something against this, this disgusting society.

He sighed and Effie, clearing her throat, turned to him and said, "So, who IS this Rose of yours?"

He couldn't help but smile at her name and said, "Ahh, Rose. She's . . . my friend, a person I let come with me through my crazy adventures."

"Sounds exciting, your adventures," said Effie.

"Oh, they're exciting, all right," said the Doctor. "They're more exciting with her. My newer adventures are better than my old ones."

"Because she went with you?"

"Yeah," said the Doctor quietly, his smile fading, "because she came with me."

"Sounds lovely," Effie said with a happy sigh.

"It is lovely," murmured the Doctor. All the adventures, no matter what, despite all the pain and loss and suffering, were better with Rose, and now he was contemplating again why he had left her alone here.

The door behind them cracked open and Effie turned excitedly, clapping her hands, saying, "Oh, Haymitch! Have you got it?"

"Yeah," he said, and he took his seat and began to push buttons that meant nothing to the Doctor. The Time Lord leaned forward and watched as Haymitch pressed a button here, imputed something here, pulled a lever here, and then, leaning back, said, "There."

"What'd you send them?" asked the Doctor.

"A spile," said Haymitch. "The girl better well know how to use the thing."

"What on earth is a spile?" asked Effie.

"A spile is a metallic or wooden gadget, depends on which one you have, that you stick into a tree and then the sap in the tree comes out," explained the Doctor. He furrowed his eyebrows and said, "Haven't you ever known how maple syrup is made?"

"What's that? Something the districts eat?" Effie wanted to know, and the Doctor merely sighed, wiped at his eyes, and said, "Nothing."

A small grey parachute floated to the tributes, and after a few minutes, Katniss figured out what it is (those few minutes made Haymitch look very annoyed that she didn't figure it out earlier) and they were rewarded with water.

After that, things became a little quieter. It began to grow dark, and the tributes were all setting up some kind of camp. That is, except for Johanna and Rose and their group. They kept walking, which meant the Doctor kept himself awake.

Effie left around ten after drinking several drinks with the two mentors. Haymitch and the Doctor decided to take turns watching the screens so that one of them could be constantly watching the tributes. They were still a bit wary of each other, for the Doctor knew that Haymitch would do anything to save his kids, and he knew that he'd do anything to make sure that Rose survived.

Haymitch took his nap on one of the beds while the Doctor, wiping at his eyes occasionally, watched the screens. The Careers had their camps set up and the weak, crawling tributes were leaning against trees. 4 and 12 had their camp, and so he kept his eyes on 3 and 7 and Rose.

They kept walking. They were trying to make up for lost time when 4 and 12 made their way quickly. Johanna, hot, sweaty and bothered, made the Doctor frown, worried, as she slashed about with her axe.

Wiress looked like she could faint right there. Rose looked so tired helping her, and the Doctor closed his eyes, for there was nothing he could do, and he didn't want to see her suffer.

* * *

"HOW MANY MILES COULD THEY HAVE GONE WITHOUT US FINDING THEM?" Johanna yelled loudly to no one in particular.

"Care-careful, Johanna," said Beetee, "you might call in the Careers."

"So what? WHO CARES ANYMORE?" yelled Johanna as she sliced away at the foliage. "I HATE THIS STUPID ARENA!"

Rose gulped and held on tighter to Wiress. One day in, and she was already feeling like she could crumble onto the ground. Her eyelids were heavy and she felt like she couldn't take another step. Her body had better limits than her mind, it seemed, and she somehow kept up with the angry Johanna and Blight and Beetee.

What was the time? That was what she wanted to know. And how big was this arena? What shape was it in? They had been going straight with a few twists and turns and nothing happened.

That's when Rose heard a loud rumble, and she said, "Is that thunder?"

"Is that rain?" asked Beetee. A lightning bolt flashed briefly.

Johanna looked up. "We need water," she said, her voice a hoarse from yelling and lack of water.

Rose pleaded inwardly for it to rain, and suddenly felt herself get covered with the liquid, it splashing down her body and soaking her clothes. "Rain!" she yelled, and in the dark, she could see Johanna hold out her palm and after getting some, drank it, made a horrified face and spat it out.

She looked disgustedly at Wiress, who was doing the same thing, and yelled, "That's not water, Nuts! IT'S BLOOD."

Rose immediately looked properly horrified as the blood rain came pouring down on them, saying, "This is BLOOD?" Immediately her mouth was filled with it as it poured down harder.

"Yeah, it is," Johanna spat, "and we're covered in it."

Rose gulped and looked to Wiress and said above the noise of the rain, "Don't drink it, Wiress!" She quickly spat out the blood in her mouth, just getting some more in her anyway. It was irony and disgusting.

"Now what?" asked Blight.

"We keep walking," Johanna said. She looked angry as she looked at Blight and grabbed Beetee, saying, "I'm tired of leading this stupid group around, you lead us for once, I'll take Volts!"

"Fine, Johanna," spat Blight, and he turned and they all followed him, all getting soaked in blood. Rose coughed as she held onto Wiress, which was a hard thing to do, for the blood was making her shoulders slippery. Rose looked about and wondered if the entire arena was getting coated in blood rain. She wouldn't be surprised if in the morning, she saw the entire arena painted a dark, bloody red.

They walked on and a few more minutes, the rain never relenting, when suddenly Blight seized in front of them and was thrown back, hitting the ground with a CRACK!

Rose looked horrified while Wiress and Beetee looked a bit surprised and Johanna looked curious.

"What the hell?" Johanna said, and she let go of Beetee, saying, "walk after me, and I'll kill you."

Rose gulped. She could barely see Johanna looking about and grabbing a rock and throwing it ahead of Blight where it bounced off and zoomed at her, and she had to move out of the way.

"What happened to him?" Rose asked slowly.

"He walked into the force field," Johanna spat, "he got electrocuted."

"Can we save him?" Rose asked above the roar of the storm, and she saw Johanna shake her head as she checked his heart.

"He's dead," she said emotionlessly, her words gurgled with the blood filling her mouth. She stood up straight, wiped at her red forehead and repeated, "He's dead."

Rose couldn't help but feel her heart sink. Even though she had barely known Blight more than a few hours during which they barely exchanged more than a word or two, she felt terribly bad about his death. She felt bad about all the deaths that happened around her when she went traveling with the Doctor.

She knew that the Doctor did not like deaths at all, but she hoped that this was one death that he did see.

She swallowed thickly as Johanna turned back to them. Blight had been her district partner, from what Beetee had quietly told her on their long walk. She had known him for much longer than Rose had, and now he was dead. Rose hadn't a clue of how Johanna was feeling, and all she could choke out was, "I'm sorry."

"Yeah." Johanna picked up the axe that was laying beside him and said above the pounding rain, "He had to go." (She shook her head.) "C'mon." She wrinkled her nose as she said bitterly, "Guess I'll have to really help with Volts now."

"His name is Beetee," Rose couldn't help but say, though she knew it was rude to say so quickly after what happened to Blight.

Johanna threw her a look as she put an arm under Beetee and said as she raised him up, "Yeah? Well, he'll always be Volts to me."

Johanna lifted him and said sharply, "C'mon!" Her head looked up and she said, "Let's hope this rain will stop soon."

Rose straightened and lifted Wiress higher, and suddenly the crazy woman began to murmur in a sing-songy voice under her breath, "Hickory dickory dock."

"Oh, dear God," groaned Johanna as she turned. "SHUT UP NUTS."

Rose nodded slowly to Wiress as she followed Johanna, who took a slightly right turn so they were following along the force field, having it to their side about ten feet apart from them.

Rose sighed softly and reinforced her grip on Wiress as they continued walking, and she hoped and wished and prayed silently that the rain would stop. And soon.

* * *

The Doctor had been alarmed when he had seen Blight fall, and he knew now that one could simply use a highly dosage of CPR on him to bring him back, but apparently neither of the remaining four knew how to apply it before he was gone.

He sank back in his chair, just glad that the one who was ahead of the others wasn't Rose. If she had walked into that force field, he knew that none of them could have brought her back, and the thought sobered him still as he put an elbow on his armrest, his fist propped up against his face. He was getting tired, but he had to keep an eye on her. This was his only way of protecting her, for he couldn't just go into the arena. Haymitch had explained everything with the tubes and such, and how only one tribute could use them.

Haymitch had also been the one who stopped him from snagging a hovercraft and trying to find a way into the arena with it. He told the Doctor gruffly it was just better for everything to play out. The Doctor just hoped that the way it played out wouldn't include Rose's death.

It was two o'clock, the Doctor couldn't help but notice, when he sat up excitedly. The blood rain had stopped, and Johanna looked at least a bit relieved and not angry as she yelled for Rose and Wiress and Beetee to hurry up.

Smiling, he decided to look around at the other screens, and his eyes automatically went up toward the screen with Katniss, Peeta, Finnick and Mags. He could see that Katniss was keeping watch, and his eyes squinted when he saw something coming toward her camp. It looked to be like a fog, and he immediately felt its ominous quality as he saw Katniss begin to call her companions' names.

"Get out of there, get out of there, now," he said rapidly under his breath as he saw Katniss and everyone there start to blister. "Get out, get out!" He knew enough from the blisters and his own experience with fogs of mysterious origins that it was not best to stay put.

"Run! Run!" yelled Katniss. Finnick woke up and yelled, "What is it? What is it?"

"Some kind of fog. Poisonous gas. Hurry, Peeta!" Katniss yelled, and the Doctor still keeping his eyes on the screen, said, "Good, she's got it, now _get out_!"

As they began to run, the Doctor turned quickly and said loudly, "Haymitch, Haymitch, get up! There's a poisonous fog in their camp and I don't know if they're going to get out of there!"

Haymitch stirred and sat up in bed, groaning as he said, looking to the Doctor, "What on earth are you babbling about?"

"There's a fog in your tributes' general area. It's poisonous," explained the Doctor quickly, and Haymitch instantly got out of bed and took his seat, watching the screen intently, and the Doctor couldn't help but notice a knife in his hand as he quickly looked back at Rose's screen, where she and her companions had turned and were walking south.

"Just don't go to your left, just don't go into the fog," the Doctor whispered to himself frantically, hoping that in some way, Rose will have heard him.

Haymitch watched, his look unchanged, as Finnick carried Peeta and Katniss carried Mags. His eyes looked different, though. They looked concerned as the tributes began to fall, their appendage twitching, their movements almost robotic.

The Doctor looked back to Katniss and Peeta and Finnick and Mags and instantly said, "Their nerves are being played with. The fog took control over their nerves and it's making them twitch . . . like that."

"Yeah, and they better figure out how to move by themselves before they're engulfed," said Haymitch sarcastically, leaning forward

The fog was still several feet behind them, but it was moving fast toward them, like a sandstorm, with poison instead of particles of rock.

The Doctor's eyes searched, hard, for any sign of them becoming themselves again as they began to walk slightly, Katniss carrying the smaller Mags while Finnick carried the injured Peeta. The looks on Katniss and Finnick's face betrayed just in how much pain they were in.

The fog came in, quietly, and Haymitch, who had been cursing under his breath and looking snarly, looked quiet and solemn as it came over them, ready to take them when they had gotten enough. The fog wasn't a regular fog, the Doctor knew, and he wasn't sure how it was a poison. If it was a poison, wouldn't it have gotten them already? Wouldn't they be on their knees, fallen to the ground, or choking?

A sudden thought came to the Doctor and he whispered, "That's not fog with water. That's acid." He straightened and said louder, "That's acid fog. They're going to be in for a lot of pain." In another part of his brain, he could hear quiet chanting, "Just don't go to your left, just don't go into the fog." Endlessly, pounding into his head, hoping that the faster the words were, the more chance that somehow Rose would make sense of it.

Katniss fell with Mags, and asked if Finnick could left both her and Peeta. The Doctor and Haymitch knew already that that wasn't going to happen.

That when Mags takes control of the situation. The Doctor's thoughtful face looked horrified as she gave Finnick a kiss on the lips and then turned and walked straight into the woods. While the Doctor knew that decision was to benefit Finnick and 12, he was still a bit horrified as he watched the remaining three run as a cannon shot rang out.

They ran out of the fog and collapsed into a pile on top of each other. The Doctor expected the fog to follow them, but it didn't. Instead, it became thicker and thicker, as if it was in a room, being contained by an invisible wall.

The Doctor leaned back, running a hand through his hair, saying, "What is this?" Had they passed some invisible line that magically stopped the fog?

He couldn't think of a thing when Haymitch said under his breath, the same time as Peeta, "Monkeys."

The Doctor looked back to see that the three were startled to be greeted by two orange, large monkeys that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Oh, no," he said quietly.

The humans watched the monkeys until Peeta started him and Katniss and Finnick crawling down the slope and onto a part of the beach, which looked like a triangle. They crawled to the water, and Katniss put a hand in the water. The Doctor straightened when he saw a milk-like substance come off of her skin, and she looked relieved.

"Water. The water draws out the acid, it-it draws out the poison," whispered the Doctor.

"No kidding," said Haymitch, and within the next couple of hours, all three of them had stripped to their undergarments and been in the water, and Peeta, once finished, went to get water from one of the trees, leaving Finnick and Katniss floating in the shallow water.

"They should be all right, then," said the Doctor, looking to Haymitch.

"Hopefully," said Haymitch sullenly.

It was then when they began to notice something. All peeking out of the jungle, showing up not all at once but gradually, was several dozen of the orange monkeys. Huge, hideous things, hiding in the branches of the trees, waiting for a chance to pounce.

"Ach, no," said Haymitch leaning forward.

The Doctor quickly sent a look at Rose's screen, making sure that she wasn't too close to the area where the monkeys were. His breathing hitched when he saw that she and Johanna and 3 were headed that way.

"No, no, no, no, no, turn back, back, BACK ROSE GET BACK," said the Doctor rapidly, his voice quickening with bits of panic. He squinted slightly at the monkeys, and for some reason, he thought they looked vaguely familiar, but the thought quickly left his mind as he inwardly wished for Rose to stay away.

"Shut up," whispered Haymitch in a warning voice, leaning close to the screen. Katniss had noticed the monkeys and Peeta was slowly making his way back to her and Finnick.

"This is bad," said the Doctor, and Peeta alerted the monkeys, and they all sprang from the trees and screeching, ran at the three tributes.

Their screams seemed to echo, even though the Doctor and Haymitch were not anywhere near the arena. Katniss picked up her bow and arrows which she had remembered to bring along from their campsite and began to take down monkeys, though she was vastly overwhelmed.

Peeta and Finnick join her, and they formed a triangle as Katniss shot and Finnick used his trident, which he had retrieved from the cornucopia yesterday, and Peeta used his knife he had. They had remembered the things they had when they left the cornucopia.

Katniss soon ran out of arrows and a monkey went after Peeta, the tension growing. _The Capitol must be enjoying this,_ thought the Doctor angrily as he gripped the armrests of his chair, sure that the blonde-haired boy was a goner. There was practically nothing, NOTHING, that made the Doctor more angry when someone killed just for the fun of it. He knew life was a precious, precious thing, and to see it being killed for the amusement of others brought his blood to boiling.

Haymitch remained silent as the monkey drew closer to Peeta, and suddenly, out of thin air, another tribute ran in front of him, and the monkey chomped its jaws into her instead.

"What?" the Doctor couldn't help but say incredulously, his eyes wide. "What?"

Peeta stabbed the monkey repeatedly until it let go of the tribute.

She was gone.

The Doctor leaned back and so did Haymitch as a feeling of exhaustion overwhelmed them. They kept their eyes open enough to see Peeta and Katniss send the dead tribute off to the water where a hovercraft picked her up before Haymitch said in a tired, frustrated voice, "Get to bed, Doc, I'll watch."

"No, no," said the Doctor, instantly sounding awake as he looked to Rose's screen, displaying her and her companions resting against some trees. "I-I can't. I need-"

"I'll let you know if something happens to her," said Haymitch.

"I-I can't," said the Doctor weakly, waving a hand tiredly around. "I-I need to watch her. It's my fault she's in the arena, if I had just taken her with me to-"

"Shut up and go to bed, please?" said Haymitch sardonically.

The Doctor looked back at Haymitch and he found his resolve to stay awake and watch her growing smaller. "I can't . . ." It was his fault, he knew. He had promised, promised, her mother that she would be safe. She was not safe now because he wasn't with her. He wasn't there protecting her.

"Just go to bed," said Haymitch in a firm, getting-really-annoyed-with-the-Doctor voice.

The Doctor looked back to the screen, and saw that she was sleeping. She-she was surely going to get attacked by a wild animal, or Johanna would turn on her with that axe, or she would die in her sleep from some poisonous gas, or something the . . . the Gamemakers . . . set on them . . . .

Haymitch let out a sigh of relief when he saw the Doctor close his eyes.

* * *

Rose woke up with a start, and she let out a gasp when she realized where she was. She gulped and backed up against the tree she was already leaning against and let out a deep breath. Okay. She was okay, at the moment. She was in the Hunger Games, and she was with an angry woman with an axe and two people who needed help moving about.

She pushed some of her hair out of her face and looked around. The four of them were in a little huddle of trees, protecting them from the vast forest they were in. She looked about, watched some birds fly about, no doubt deadly ones. She saw now that practically everything was dangerous, here in the Hunger Games.

She pulled her legs to her chest and held them to her. Even though she had three people near her, she felt very alone. Maybe it was because she had been around with the Doctor so much that she didn't remember what it was like to do things without him. A selfish part of her wished for the Doctor to be in the arena with her, just so she knew that she wasn't here alone.

She quickly admonished herself, though, for she did not want the Doctor to be here. It was like a gladiator arena. Kill or be killed. To tell you the truth, she was not sure why she had not been killed by Johanna yet. Maybe it was because the idea of the Doctor helping that she kept her alive. Maybe the idea was enticing enough, but at the moment, Rose had practically nothing to back herself up with.

She didn't know if the Doctor was watching, or had seen her at all. Had he been near a TV since she entered the arena? She knew that he would have sent her some kind of a signal if he could that he knew where she was and that she needed help. He hadn't, yet. He would. Rose had confidence in the Doctor.

She looked to her companions, and saw that Wiress and Beetee were sleeping beside each other, their heads against the other's shoulder.

"Aren't they cute?" Rose looked up to see that Johanna was leaning against a tree branch high in the tree that the two were leaning against. Rose sat up straighter.

Johanna had told her about the districts briefly last night before they all collapsed and now Rose asked her quietly, "Which district are you from?"

"Seven," Johanna answered her nonchalantly, looking down to her. "The wood district."

"Did you like it, back home?" asked Rose.

Johanna shrugged. "Better than this stupid arena or the damn Capitol!" she shouted. Rose winced, and looked around to see if Johanna had called anyone to their tiny camp.

"What about you?" asked Johanna. "Did you like it back home?"

Rose shrugged as well, remembering her job as a department store employee, and Mickey, and Mum. It had been a few weeks for her since she had seen them last, though only a few days for them. She had been . . . happy, yes, but then the Doctor had come around . . . and changed her . . . .

"It was fine, I guess," she said.

"Little Rosie don't want to tell Johanna?" asked Johanna with a smug laugh.

Rose looked stone faced as she looked away from Johanna, trying to ignore her. She didn't feel like she should have to reveal anything to Johanna. No one could know that she traveled through time and space.

Johanna smirked after a moment. "So, well? Anything to spill?"

"Nothing," Rose said quickly.

"Oh, come on. How's things back home? How's your mom? OH, how did you meet this Doctor?" asked Johanna mock excitedly. "Who will magically save us from the Capitol's arena?"

"It's complicated," said Rose quietly in a defensive tone. Just because she was in an alliance with Johanna didn't mean she had to explain her and the Doctor to her, especially since there was tons of cameras all around them.

"Course it is. Isn't everything?" Johanna asked, even though she didn't sound like she wanted an answer.

Rose looked up at the victor, and suddenly found herself wondering why she was so . . . . hard. Bitter. Mean.

"What about you?" Rose asked her quietly. "Have family back home?"

Johanna took a moment before she said, "No." She quickly sat up and jumped off of the tree, saying quickly, "Let's get going. Wake them up." Johanna looked away from Rose, her elbow leaning against the tree, her head propped up on her fist, her back to the three of them.

Rose helped Wiress and Beetee up, keeping a wary eye on Johanna before the victor turned to them and said, marching up to Beetee and getting a grip on his hand, "Let's go."

Rose gulped, her aching legs protesting, but she tried to ignore them as they started their walk through the jungle. She knew that complaining was not going to help her, and complaining would just make Johanna mad at her. (Not that Johanna wasn't already annoyed with her. It was just easier not having her being angrier than necessary.) She held onto Wiress and kept her up and looked about, hopeful that she would not have to stay in this arena much longer.

* * *

The Doctor woke up to see that Haymitch was not there at all. He looked around through his chair, wiping a hand at his forehead as he tried to keep awake and not get sleepy. Wiping his eyes, he was able to spot Effie Trinket smiling at him on his left.

"Oh. Hello, Effie," he mumbled, wiping at his eyes, "where's Haymitch?"

"Off negotiating with the mentors for District Four," Effie explained cheerfully, "Finnick is the only one left for District Four, and Haymitch is going to see if he can send them medicine while they send them food."

The Doctor instantly straightened, his hand falling from his forehead, looking instantly interested. "You can send stuff to them, can't you?"

"Yes," Effie said quickly, not realizing that the Doctor was more musing to himself than asking her a question. She looked to the screens and said in a sympathetic, sort of disgusted voice, "Don't they look horrible, covered in those blisters?"

"Blisters . . ." and the Doctor spared Katniss, Peeta and Finnick a small glance before he quickly looked to where Rose was with her alliance. She was walking again, helping Wiress, Johanna leading with Beetee hanging on to her. He frowned when he saw that even though she was trying to hide her emotions, Rose was looking exhausted and sleep deprived.

"How's Rose doing?" asked Effie, showing a little concern as she took a dainty bite of a spiced roll. "There's food over there, by the way," she reminded him, pointing behind them to the buffet that had been filled by the Avoxes.

The Doctor shook his head at her offer, and still looking at Rose, said in a distant voice, "She's looking . . . exhausted." He straightened and turned to Effie, saying, "Do you think that we can get Haymitch to send something to her?"

"Doctor, gifts that go into the arena are very expensive," Effie told him quickly, as though he was a child. "My goodness, Haymitch just sent Katniss a spile yesterday, which was a lot, and now he's trying to get them medicine to get rid of those ugly blisters."

"Yeah," the Doctor said, looking back to the screen, "but she needs something. She needs . . . to know that I'm here, that she can make it. Look at her. Aw, Rose."

"If you could send her something, what would it be?" Effie asked curiously.

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders, "Something that would cheer her up. I dunno."

Effie continued, her fluffy eyelashes moving about as she blinked, "Well, the single food items are relatively cheap, but asking Haymitch is the problem. He's fixed on spending all the sponsor money on Katniss and Peeta, not some girl who meandered into the arena."

"You're really cheerful, Effie," said the Doctor, and looking to the door, he said, "I'll be right back," and he headed to the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Effie quickly, sounding alarmed.

"Mentors Seven and Three," the Doctor said, peeking around the door, "they haven't sent anything yet to their tributes. Maybe they're'll have a bit of something," and he disappeared out of Effie's sight.

Effie looked ruffled when a minute later Haymitch arrived, getting into his seat and muttering about something to do with medicine and bread. He quickly looked at the screen and saw Katniss yelling at him for medicine.

"Four should be sending it now," he said, leaning against his chair. Just then he saw the ruffled Effie and no Doctor and sitting up, he said quickly, "Where's Doc?"

"He went to go talk to Bandio, Redia, Wico and Halop about sending something to Rose," Effie told him, recovering quickly as she dabbed at her painted lips with an elegant napkin.

"Damn it," Haymitch hissed as he stood up. He reached the door and opened it to see the Doctor standing in front of it, ready to enter District 12's mentor room.

"Where the hell were you?" asked Haymitch quickly.

"At Three and Seven's mentor rooms, hasn't Effie told you anything?" the Doctor said cheerfully as he ducked under Haymitch's arm, which was against the doorframe, and walked into the room, his hands in his pockets, a cheerful smile on his face.

"What did you ask them to do?" Haymitch growled, knowing fully well that the mentors knew nothing about the Doctor's presence amongst them.

"Oh, just send a little something to their tributes' alliance, no problem," said the Doctor. "I can be very persuasive."

"What did they send?" Effie asked him.

The Doctor pointed to the screens where Rose, 3 and 7 were and said, "Take a look."

Effie and Haymitch, looking over the back of his chair, looked to the screen and saw Johanna opening a parachute to show 4 bananas.

The Doctor grinned just as Rose's face lit up. That's what he needed to see. Her delight, and her trust in him. Bananas was always something a Time Lord needed, and Rose as well. She'd get him and his bananas.

"You sent her a bunch of bananas?" asked Haymitch, annoyed, as the four in the arena resumed their walk, eating bananas. "What the hell did you do that for?"

"She'll get it," the Doctor said confidentially. "Don't worry. She's all right."

"How did you get the other mentors to send her bananas?" Effie asked in surprise, laying her napkin neatly on her plate.

The Doctor looked at her with a quick smile and said, "Told them they were a good source of potassium." Haymitch rolled his eyes, Effie looked confused and the Doctor grinned to himself as he looked back to the screens.

He saw Rose look at one of the cameras, and somehow, as if she knew what camera was going to be showing herself to him, gave him a slow and understanding nod. He leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head, smiling as she began walking again.

Things were starting out rather well this morning.

**BANANAS. HE HE HE HE. Thank you for reading, and reviews are beautiful things that help people feel better. :)**


	4. Tick Tock

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Doctor Who or the Hunger Games. My original plan was to update every Sunday. That did not work. So, from now on, I'll try go update on Sunday but if I can't, it'll be on Monday. (THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS I LOVE YOU ALL.) :)**

It was mid-morning, nearly ten o'clock, when Rose finally looked up and breathed a sigh of relief to see the beach in front of them.

"The beach," she said quietly, feeling grateful. The beach meant no more hot forest and hopefully cool water and food that wasn't those disgusting nuts. The bananas were long gone, but the message they had sent her cheered her a bit. There was only one person who would think to send her bananas, and that was the Doctor. He knew that she was here. He knew where she was and she knew that he was going to help her and Johanna and Beetee and Wiress.

The thought of the Doctor watching out for her made her feel better, considerably better, but even that thought couldn't distract her from Wiress, who had been muttering something all morning under her breath which emerged as, "Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock." Johanna had been greatly annoyed when she first heard her and yelled at Rose to make her shut up. Rose hadn't a clue to make her stop, so she just said quietly, "Shhh, Wiress, you need to be quiet."

That did little to stop Wiress, who was looking half crazy, from saying, "Tick tock, tick tock," almost chanting it. It was driving Johanna bonkers.

"Tick tock, tick tock" was far better than the loud scream that rang out through the beach, covering Wiress's voice.

On one of the wedges of beach, Rose saw a big wave burst forth, covering a figure. She let out a loud gasp as the monstrous wave covered the wedge of beach and over the woods, crashing against the trees.

A cannon fired. Rose looked around and she saw a body being carried up from the woods of that wedge. That meant that there was only . . . . twelve tributes left and herself, making thirteen people in this arena.

The water began to subside when Johanna finally said, annoyed, "THERE they are. FINALLY," and she began to drag Beetee quickly with her. Rose followed her, and saw that about two spokes over was three people. She did not know them, but she was sure that they were the people that Johanna had wanted to find.

The blonde looked shocked when she saw the girl with the braid holding an arrow in a bow, ready to fire.

Johanna dropped Beetee on the beach in frustration, finally tired of carrying him, and hissed, "Fine, CARRY YOURSELF!" and she turned to Wiress and pushed her and Rose.

"Johanna!" said Rose in surprise.

Johanna ignored her, too infuriated with the world.

Rose helped Wiress to keep steady, though she was still looking faint as she muttered, "Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock."

"Yes, tick tock, shhh, Wiress!" said Rose frantically, for she did not want to get in trouble with this new group of people.

"Johanna!" Rose looked up to see the handsome young man run to her.

"Finnick!" she called back. The two met and began to talk as Finnick's two companions joined them.

Rose felt that they looked quite ridiculous, with Wiress looking like she might start spinning and Beetee laying on the beach.

"She's got Wiress and Beetee," said the girl with the braid as she approached them. She looked at Rose strangely and quickly said, "Who are you?"

"I'm Rose," she replied quickly.

"Yeah, and what are you doing with Johanna and Nuts and Volts?" asked the handsome young man.

"She's with us, guys," Johanna said, annoyed. The handsome young man threw her a look, which she returned quite quickly along with a slight nod.

"We're Peeta and Katniss and Finnick," said the blond boy. He looked at them all strangely and scratching the back of his neck, he asked, "What happened?"

Rose suddenly remembered that the four of them were still covered in blood rain. "Well-"

"We thought it was rain, you know, because of the lightning, and we were all so thirsty. But when it started coming down, it turned out to be blood. Thick, hot blood. You couldn't see, you couldn't speak without getting a mouthful. We just staggered around, trying to get out of it. That's when Blight hit the force field," Johanna said loudly to Finnick, though all could hear her.

Finnick apologized to Johanna about Blight's death but Rose ignored him as she slowly let Wiress fall to the ground, her own legs aching.

Rose let a hand splash through the water as Peeta bent to her height, squatting on his knees, wearing only his undergarments. Rose wondered what happened to him that made him take off his protective suit when he said, "Like I said, I'm Peeta. You're . . . Rose?"

"Yes," she said quickly.

"How did you get into the arena?" he asked her.

"I took up a tube with a blonde girl. She-she shoved me off of the plate when the gong went off," Rose told him. "Her name was . . . Cashmere, I think."

"You somehow got onto Cashmere's tube with her?" he said gently, though incredulously.

"Somehow, yeah," said Rose with a shaky laugh. "Yeah, somehow."

"Well, we'll see what we can do for you. Do you, um, know exactly where you are?" asked Peeta.

Rose sighed and nodded, "The Hunger Games. Only one comes out."

"Yeah," said Peeta, looking at the sand grimly.

Rose nodded and they looked at the sand for a moment before they looked up to see Johanna yelling at Katniss and getting carried to the water by Finnick, who put her down and began to dunk her head into the water.

Peeta raised an eyebrow before turning to Katniss, who said, "What did she mean? She got them for me?"

"I don't know. You did want them originally," pointed out Peeta.

"Yeah, I did. Originally." Katniss looked back to Beetee and Wiress, both looking quite weird, and said, "But I won't have them long unless we do something."

"Let's take them to our camp," said Peeta. He looked to Rose and said, "Are you injured at all?"

"Just a bit tired, is all," Rose replied. "I can help you with them, though."

"Okay," said Peeta, and between the three of them, they got Beetee and Wiress to the shallow camp Peeta, Katniss and Finnick had made.

Rose sat with Wiress on the beach, scratching at both of their skins with her fingers and sand, trying to get the dried blood off of them. It stuck to them, almost becoming part of their clothes, and finally Rose stripped Wiress down to her undergarments and took off her own shirt, leaving her own undergarments on for the sake of modesty.

Modesty was apparently not a word that Peeta and Katniss knew, for they stripped down Beetee entirely to clean him off. At least he got totally clean. Rose had Wiress, who was looking dazedly into the distance, lie down beside her in the water, hopeful that the blood might wash out of their clothes.

She let out a sigh of relief as she felt the water lap against her. Her legs were not hurting and aching as much now that she finally got to lie down.

"Tick tock, tick tock," murmured Wiress occasionally.

"I know, I know," said Rose, sitting up to look at Wiress as she helped her to sit up as well. "Tick tock, tick tock." She bit her lip and asked curiously, "What does that mean, Wiress? What does 'tick tock' mean?"

"Tick tock, tick tock," muttered Wiress as she squeezed her hands together, looking distant as she looked at the water, her eyes concentrating on only that. "Tick tock, tick tock."

"Tick tock," Rose sighed, looking to the water as well. She hadn't a clue what Wiress meant by that. Tick tock, tick tock. The only thing she knew that made that noise (besides Wiress) was a clock. Why was she making a noise that sounded like a clock?

Rose sighed and looked over the water. She bet that if the Doctor was here, he'd have figured it out. The Doctor was brilliant like that. He could hear one thing and tell you what it meant within a couple of minutes.

She knew, though, that the Doctor knew she had brains, and he would want her to use them to figure out what Wiress meant, for she certainly was not going to say anything besides, "Tick tock." Rose frowned and looked around harder, but all she could see was the expanse of arena. Nothing that resembled a clock.

Sighing, she stood up and headed over to where Katniss and Peeta were laying down Beetee on a mat to check out the wound on his back that was looking very deep.

"Is-is it terribly bad?" Rose asked Peeta, who was leaning over the man while Katniss went to the jungle to get something.

"It's bad, but I think Katniss can fix it," said Peeta, "she saved me from dying before."

"When?" asked Rose, squatting to get down to Peeta's height.

"In last year's Hunger Games. She saved my leg from blood poisoning. She-she kept me alive," said Peeta, and he wore a slight smile at the memory.

"You-you were here once before?" Rose asked him, alarmed.

"Not here particularly, but in the Hunger Games, yes," he replied. He leaned forward, putting a bit of pressure on Beetee's back, and whispered to Rose, "Where are you from?"

"It's a bit complicated, um, where am I?" asked Rose, for she knew that she had to be on Earth, for the TARDIS was nowhere near her, and Peeta spoke perfect English.

"Panem. It used to be called North America, but it became Panem after a while," Peeta whispered before saying loudly, turning to the jungle, "Coming, Katniss?"

"I'm hurrying. Remember the baby, Peeta," Katniss told him quickly as she hurried to us.

"What?" Rose asked as Peeta turned back to her.

"She's pregnant," Peeta replied.

"WHAT?" asked Rose, incredulous.

"Shhh, it's okay," said Peeta as Katniss reached them. She handed some moss to Peeta and handed some blankly to Rose, saying, "Use this on Wiress. Wash her off and her suit so she can put it on clean. Put her undergarments on a rock to soak, and then we can talk. Use some for yourself, too."

"Thanks," Rose said quietly as she stood up. She looked down to Peeta and said quickly, "London."

Peeta, remembering their conversation, nodded quickly before he started to help Katniss with Beetee's back.

Rose quickly did Katniss's instructions, not daring to disobey her. She helped Wiress into her suit and even helped her put on her purple belt, which had managed not to break in their walk across the jungle.

She put Wiress's undergarments out to soak and wrung out her own shirt, scrubbing it against a rock before she laid it out to dry.

She looked up to see that Katniss and Peeta had Beetee taken care of and she gently grabbed Wiress's arm and said, "C'mon then. Let's get going."

"Tick tock, tick tock," said Wiress.

"Yes, yes, tick tock," said Rose, and the two went and joined the small camp, which now had a shining clean Johanna and a peeling Finnick.

They all had shellfish and water, foregoing manners. (It was the arena, and Rose could care less at this point.)

"All right, so tell us, who are you?" Finnick said after a while to Rose. Johanna looked up from where she was stuffing her face full of shellfish and said, "She joined us at the cornucopia."

"How'd you get here?" asked Katniss quickly.

"I came up on Cashmere's plate. I ended up getting onto one of those spaceships and I followed her," Rose said, picking at a shellfish to distract herself.

"So you just somehow ended up here when you weren't supposed to?" Finnick said slowly.

"I guess, yeah," said Rose slowly, looking about the ring of people around her. Katniss was looking perplexed while Johanna looked plain annoyed. Finnick looked a little grim while Peeta raised an eyebrow. Beetee was busy with his shellfish and Wiress was still looking away at the ground, as though there was something there she needed to focus on.

"Does this mean we have to kill you too?" asked Katniss.

"I-I have a plan," said Rose, "so no."

"What's your plan?" Finnick asked her quickly, almost cautiously.

"I have a friend, outside of this arena, and his name is the Doctor," Rose told them. Everyone, including Beetee and even Wiress, was watching her now. "He-he's good at escaping, and rescuing, and he knows I'm here. He, if you help me, he can help save us, save us all." Rose was not entirely sure that he could save them all, but she knew the Doctor, and she knew that he was as sure as hell going to try.

It was just a matter of convincing the people around her who were supposed to kill her to NOT kill her.

She chewed on the inside of her lip as Johanna and Finnick exchanged a significant look and Katniss looked at Peeta, shaking her head slightly.

"We-we can't . . . only one person is allowed to come out of the arena," said Katniss, looking at Rose a second before she immediately returned her gaze to Peeta.

"Please, listen to me. The Doctor has a plan. We just need to wait and not kill each other before he comes and gets us," Rose added with a slight smile, hopeful that they believed her.

"But-" said Katniss before Finnick said in an incredulous voice, "Fine, I GUESS you can stay with us. Just . . . be careful, 'kay?"

Katniss looked at Finnick and he gave her a reassuring look, which made her look ill at ease. Rose leaned back a little, the queasy feeling in her stomach going away slightly at the thought of them listening to her.

"Who's taking first watch?" Katniss said, for Rose was sure that not many people in the group had had much sleep last night at all.

"I'll watch," said Johanna.

"No, I can watch," Katniss said quickly.

"I can't sleep. I'M watching," said Johanna with hostility.

"I'll watch with you," said Katniss firmly. Johanna threw her a bitter look and spat, "Fine," before backing away from the ring.

Everyone looked at her before they all settled on the beach. Beetee laid on a mat that seemed to be Finnick's and Finnick laid on the warm sand along with Wiress and Rose, who was on the edge of the camp, helping Finnick sandwich Wiress in.

The nineteen-year-old lay on her side, turning her back to Wiress, and looked at the sand and the jungle, though she was not concentrating on either of those.

Her mind was distracted, thinking about everything. She was here, in an arena where it was kill or be killed, and she could only wish that nobody sleeping or watching around her killed her in her sleep. Maybe that was the reason she couldn't fall asleep, but she attributed the blame of her awakeness to the Doctor. She was worried slightly over his plan, and she was mentally kicking herself for even thinking such a thing, for the Doctor was always reliable and trusting, and she was sure that his plan was excellent. Maybe it was because she hadn't seen him since yesterday or because she hadn't a clue what his plan was, but she was worried, and it was not something she liked at all.

* * *

"This is sick," the Doctor said, his voice quietly angry.

Haymitch was over by the buffet trying to get himself something to eat after returning from talking to some people who looked semi-normal while Effie was perfecting her makeup now that Rose and Wiress and Beetee and Johanna were with Katniss, Peeta and Finnick.

"Just . . . all of these Games!" said the Doctor. He took a breath and said quietly, "Why do they do this, Haymitch? I don't care about the Dark Days story. This - is - wrong."

"It's the Hunger Games, Doctor," said Effie, not looking up from her lipstick. "It's normal."

"Yeah, in your little world, but everywhere else, this is regarded as murderous behavior," the Doctor told her.

"This is politics," Haymitch said sarcastically. "I talked with Seven, Three and Four's mentors. They're okay with it, at the moment."

"Nasty thing, politics, always ruining everything," said the Doctor, turning away from the two who seemed to be nonplussed by this and looked to the screen. Rose was lying on the sand next to Wiress, who hadn't closed her eyes and was just blinking.

"Tick tock," she murmured.

"Tick tock, tick tock, what does that mean?" the Doctor asked to no one in particular, his brow furrowing in confusion. His brain began to reel as he started to try to think like Wiress. What did she mean by 'tick tock?' The only thing that made that sound was a clock. A clock. There was no clocks in the arena, unless someone somehow had gotten a hold of a watch, which was . . . very unlikely.

A clock . . . . the Doctor thought to the arena, and he remembered when he had seen the blood rain, he had seen the time, which had been . . . . one o'clock. Then, the fog, it came at exactly two o'clock.

The Doctor sat up. When the tidal wave came along, he had seen that the clock has read it being ten in the morning. A pattern began to fall into his head. All these tragedies were falling into place, a pattern. They weren't just happening by themselves. They were timed, and that meant-

"The arena's a clock?!" he said aloud. He turned and said, "Haymitch, the arena's a clock!"

"What does that mean?" Haymitch asked. He turned back to the buffet and said, "You're as nutty as Wiress."

"No, no, don't you get it? Oi!" the Doctor said, and he reached out and began to push and shove toggles and levers and buttons, trying to find a way to move a camera so that he could see the overview of the arena.

"The arena, it-it's a clock, at each hour, a new something comes at the tributes, the tidal wave at ten, the blood rain at one, it's a pattern!" the Doctor said, pushing a whole panel of buttons.

"How do you know that?" Effie asked him while Haymitch looked away from him, not looking too amused.

"Well, with the timed troubles and all that," the Doctor said, finally finding a camera control. He tugged it back and a slow grin covered his face when he saw that the arena was nothing more than a big circle, with large rings all around it and beach. "Wiress." He looked to the awake, crazy woman and said, "She's smarter than she lets on."

"Yeah, so what if the arena is a clock?" said Haymitch. "How does that help us?"

"I'm not sure," the Doctor said, and he leaned back in his seat. "Maybe we can use them to our advantage, though I'm not sure how . . . yet."

Haymitch looked seriously worried for a second before he rolled his eyes and turning to Effie, said, "Did you order the Avoxes to get some alcohol?"

"Peeta told me not to let you have any," said Effie, and she turned to him and said seriously in her silly voice, "I'd rather listen to Peeta than to you."

Haymitch gave her a rude gesture that made Effie open her mouth in surprise, but the Doctor ignored the two, who was obviously used to doing this with each other. He had his two index fingers at the bridge of his nose, thinking. After the fog came the monkeys, and for some reason, the Doctor thought he had seen those monkeys before. Not on Earth, that was for certain, but they were on Earth, so why were they here?

He slumped down further. He had to see them again, to make sure he knew what they were. Unfortunately, he could not think of where he had seen them, or even if he had seen such creatures before. They resembled some orange monkeys he had seen in the depths of Africa, so they might be those.

"Haymitch," the Doctor said quietly.

Haymitch sighed loudly and said, "What now, Doc? Trying to reason with Princess here."

"I'm not your princess, or-or any princess, Haymitch Abernathy!" said Effie, obviously sounding embarrassed, and she flounced from the room, her heels clicking as she did so.

"What were those monkeys from? They-they don't look LIKE they are from Earth," said the Doctor, ignoring Effie's departure.

"Those are called mutts, Doc, or muttations," Haymitch explained as he settled for a fruity looking drink that gave off great sweet fumes. "The Capitol creates them. Modifies animals with liquids and syringes designed to twist their structure, make them their puppets in the arena."

"Mutts," said the Doctor quietly. "Have you actually seen them make these mutts?"

"No, we all know how they're made like that. They were natural, then transformed. Freaks of nature," spat Haymitch.

"Not natural . . ." the Doctor said quietly to himself, his mind fading away from the monkeys as he looked at Rose, who captured his attention by just existing. He took a deep breath and said, "Right . . . ."

Just as that minute, Effie came hurrying in, closing the door behind her. The Doctor and Haymitch turned to her as she panted loudly and said, "The Peacekeepers, they've everywhere! They're searching for-for somebody-"

"That'd be me," the Doctor said, standing up. "They want to find this Doctor that Rose keeps mentioning. They've been searching the mentor rooms, Effie?"

Effie gulped and drew out a handkerchief to fan herself and Haymitch groaned loudly.

The Doctor quickly crossed over to Effie so that he was within a foot of her face and said, "Effie, you have to tell me. Are they searching the mentor rooms?"

Effie nodded after a moment, not able to speak, and the Doctor said quickly, "I have to hide. Either I have to hide or get out of here."

"People will see you coming out of here," said Effie, and the Doctor nodded. He had only been able to get in here because everyone else was too busy not noticing him as they bet on the poor people in the arena. He looked around the room and said, turning back to Effie, "How far away are they?"

"They're coming this way right now," said Effie. She hastily reached into her bag to reinforce her makeup as the Doctor said to himself, "Under the bed it is, then," and he got down and managed to slid under the bed.

"The hell?" said Haymitch.

"Just . . . act like I'm not here," said the Doctor. He looked thoughtful as he said, "Hope they don't check under beds," and he disappeared.

Effie and Haymitch stared at the bed for a few seconds before the door burst open, revealing several Peacekeepers. From his position under the bed, all the Doctor could see was a bunch of identical shoes.

"Morning, officers," Haymitch said lazily, "can we help you with something?"

"We are searching for a man called the Doctor, Mr. Abernathy. We have apprehended his transportation and are searching for him," the Doctor heard one of the Peacekeepers say. He inwardly groaned. Not the TARDIS. "The woman who entered into the arena has been mentioning him a lot throughout the Games-"

"Yeah, I noticed that, weird, right?" asked Haymitch.

"-and we have been authorized to search for him. He is now a criminal to the Capitol for being with the woman who has infiltrated the Hunger Games."

"There hasn't been anyone in here besides me and Effie. And the Avoxes," replied Haymitch, "but I'll keep an eye out for him. What does he look like?"

A sort of uneasiness could be felt in the air as minutes passed in silence. Finally, the Peacekeeper who had been talking said, "We have no physical idea of what the Doctor looks like."

"Oh. Okay. We'll keep an eye out for him," said Haymitch.

After a moment, the Peacekeeper said, embarrassed, "Mr. Abernathy," and he left with his troops.

The door shut and the Doctor, peeking his head out from under the bed, said, "It safe now, then?"

"Yeah," said Haymitch, and the Doctor came out from under the bed. He dusted himself off and said, "Thanks," to Haymitch, who grunted, and they both returned to their seats, the sound of Effie locking the door behind them as they sat down.

* * *

An hour or two passed, and Rose had managed to get a few minutes' worth of sleep when she felt Wiress move away from her. She ignored her, squeezing her eyes close as she brought her legs closer to her chest. She pushed out all sounds around her and pulled herself close together, trying to ignore the world.

She managed to block out the world for a few minutes until Katniss tapped her quickly, saying, "Get up. Get up - we have to move."

Rose immediately sat up, looking around quickly to see why they had to move. She saw Finnick and Johanna and Peeta collect their things while Katniss helped Beetee into his suit.

"Tick tock!" said Wiress.

"Yes, tick tock, the arena's a clock. It's a clock, Wiress, you were right. You were right," said Katniss quickly.

Rose quickly moved and helped Katniss help Beetee up as Wiress said in an relieved voice, "Midnight."

"It starts at midnight," Katniss replied.

Rose looked at her and Wiress, confused, before she looked around the arena, not sure what they meant about the arena being a clock. She gulped slightly when she saw near them the blood rain that she and Johanna and Beetee and Wiress had to walk through. She could practically feel the disgusting, slippery, irony liquid pour down her again.

"One-thirty," Wiress said, looking at the blood rain as well.

"Exactly. One-thirty," Katniss replied, "and at two, a terrible poisonous fog begins there," and she pointed to another section of jungle near them. "So we have to move somewhere safe now."

Wiress smiled and Katniss asked her, "You thirsty?"

Rose looked on with a bit of relief as Wiress, having someone finally understanding her, started eating and drinking as they all started to stand up.

As Katniss checked over her weapons, Peeta came over to help Rose held Beetee stand. The man looked around as they brought him to his feet and said, "Wire."

"She's right here," said Peeta, "Wiress is fine. She's coming, too."

"Wire," Beetee repeated.

Johanna sighed and rolled her eyes as she left Finnick and said, "Oh, I know what he wants," and she went over to where his purple belt was by the water. Rose saw her pick up a wide but small loop of wire.

Johanna said, examining it with disgust, "This worthless thing. It's some kind of wire or something. That's how he got cut. Running up to the cornucopia to get this. I don't know what kind of weapon it's supposed to be. I guess you could pull off a piece and use it as a garrote or something. But really, can you imagine Beetee garroting somebody?"

Rose was not exactly sure what garroting meant but she bet that she didn't want to know. She bit her lip and concentrated on helping Peeta keep Beetee upright.

"He won his Games with wire. Setting up that electrical trap," said Peeta, looking up from Beetee, his grip on the man never wavering, though. "It's the best weapon he could have."

"Seems like you'd have figured that out, since you nicknamed him Volts and all," added Katniss, looking at Johanna.

Johanna narrowed her eyes at Katniss, "Yeah, that was really stupid of me, wasn't it? I guess I must have been distracted by keeping your little friends alive."

Rose helped Beetee stand, Peeta hurrying to help them. Rose narrowed her eyes at Johanna's words.

" . . . While you were . . . what, again? Getting Mags killed off?" Johanna looked mad.

Katniss reached for the knife at her belt.

"Go ahead. Try it. I don't care if you are knocked up, I'll rip your throat out," seethed Johanna loathingly.

There was a silence, as though Katniss was contemplating going after Johanna. Rose wish she knew what to say, but thankfully Finnick said, quickly taking the wire, "Maybe we all better be careful where we step." He handed the coil to Rose, who quickly gave it to Beetee, and he added, "There's your wire, Volts. Watch where you plug it."

"Where to?" asked Peeta, and Rose tightened her grip on Beetee's shoulder and arm, ready to help Peeta lug him wherever they needed to lug him.

"I'd like to go to the cornucopia and watch. Just to make sure we're right about the clock," replied Finnick, and with him and Katniss leading, they walked down the nearest sand strip and headed onto the beach of the cornucopia. It had been a bit hard, getting everyone through the water, but Finnick helped get Beetee there with the help of Peeta and Rose, and Johanna, grumbling and cursing fiercely, helped Katniss with Wiress, careful to keep their supplies above the water.

They approached the cornucopia with care, and Rose was sure that there was going to be someone in the cornucopia. After traveling with the Doctor for so long, she knew that things like this were always filled with something. Whether it be people, aliens, allies or enemies, there was always someone in there.

All that seemed to be there at first glance was the gold cornucopia and strewn about supplies. Katniss and Johanna let go of Wiress and sent her to wash off Beetee's wire. While she was at the beach, she pointed out a dirty fog.

"Two o'clock," Peeta said, and with that, they all settled down to work. Johanna started to enjoy herself amongst the weapons. Katniss was rummaging around with her weapons as well while Beetee was laid down on the mat.

Peeta began to draw on a leave of some sort and Rose, looking around and seeing that she was not needed, went and walked over to Finnick.

She folded her arms and said, "Was Mags your partner?"

His copper hair whipped about in the breeze and he nodded.

"I'm sorry," said Rose, "I really am."

"She knew what she was doing," he said quietly. "It's just sad to see her go."

Rose nodded quietly and looked at the ground, knowing how hard it was to handle someone you love being taken away from you. From the time she had seen her father who was gone, she knew.

"She was my mentor," Finnick added after a moment. He turned to Rose and said, "She volunteered for someone."

"She was awfully brave, then," said Rose, for that was all she could think of to say since she had not seen Mags except for a glimpse on this beach yesterday.

Finnick nodded and after a moment, said, "Do you really think that your Doctor can help us?"

"Yes," Rose said quickly. The Doctor wouldn't fail. She hoped and hoped and she knew, after a while, that he wouldn't fail. He couldn't fail. He was the Doctor.

"I hope he can," Finnick said after a moment, his voice distant. He cleared his throat and looking at Rose, said, "You're Rose, right?"

Rose nodded and he offered her his arm, saying, "You look prettier than any other flower."

Rose couldn't help but look at the ground and laugh at that. Finnick smirked and said, "That was a stupid one, right?"

"Very," said Rose, and she looked up and hooked arms with Finnick once again, "don't use that one ever again."

"Don't worry, I won't," he said with a wink, and they headed to Peeta and Katniss Beetee.

Katniss and Beetee were looking over Peeta's shoulder as he drew on something. He had his legs drawn to his chest and had a large, smooth leave on them. Using a knife, he was carving out something.

Rose and Finnick and now Johanna looked over his shoulder as well. Rose drew her eyebrows together at his drawing. In the center was a circle with spokes poking out of it so it looked like a pie with a center, each of the twelve slices in equal pieces. A ring was carved around the spokes and then another slightly bigger ring, and Rose suddenly pieced together what they meant when they said that the arena was a clock.

Peeta had carved numbers next to each wedge, making it look more like a clock. There was 'lightning' at 12. Blood was 1, fog was 2, and monkeys were 3.

"And ten to eleven is the wave," Katniss pointed out. She looked to Rose, Finnick and Johanna and said, "Did you notice anything unusual in the others?"

Finnick shook his head, Johanna said quickly, "Just blood rain," and Rose said quietly, "We didn't see anything but the blood rain. What else could be in here?"

"I guess they could hold anything," said Katniss.

"I'm going to mark the ones where we know the Gamemakers' weapon follows us out past the jungle, so we'll stay clear of those," said Peeta. He drew lines on the fog and wave beaches. He sat back, making everyone back up as well, and said, "Well, it's a lot more than we knew this morning."

He put the leaf down when suddenly Finnick said, "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" asked Rose, and she concentrated on listening, but all she could hear was the waves against the beach. "I don't . . . I don't hear anything."

"Exactly," said Finnick.

They all immediately looked about and sprang into action. Katniss loaded an arrow and Rose stood up straight and looked around frantically, her blonde hair spilling out of her ponytail when she suddenly caught sight of a tall man with blonde hair grinning evilly as he let Wiress fall from his hands, a dark, red streak running across her neck.

Rose couldn't scream. She desperately felt like she needed to, but she didn't. She stood still for a second before Finnick shoved a sword in her hands as he rushed to knock away a spear going toward Peeta.

Rose saw the man that killed Wiress fall to the ground, an arrow in his head, and then saw Cashmere; Johanna planted an axe blade into the tribute's chest. Her blonde hair whipped about as Johanna shoved her over.

Rose gulped and looked around, and saw Beetee on his hands and knees. She hurried, sword still in her hand in case she needed it, toward the man, hearing Johanna and Katniss yelling at the two of them and the boys headed to go after more people who were behind the cornucopia. Three cannon shots filled the air, marking three more deaths.

Rose hurried to him. He was looking smaller with the wound on his back looking huge. She was breathing hard now, for it was hard to run across sand. Especially sand that was spinning around.

Very much like the TARDIS when it was going to a place in space, the beach was turning and spinning and Rose was thrown to the ground, coughing as the beach turned faster and faster.

Sand spun everywhere and Rose tried to grip the sand, though it was pointless as it sank under her fingers and flew about. She squeezed her eyes shut to keep them from getting sand in them. She knew from experience that sand in one's eye was not pleasant.

And then suddenly, the beach was brought to an abrupt stop, and Rose sank against the ground.

She moaned as she brought herself to a sitting position, her entire body all sore and aching. She brushed her hands together and then used them to try to clean out her mouth, which, despite her trying not to get sand in it, managed to have sand all around it.

She turned when she heard people coming toward her. Finnick went into the water to retrieve Beetee, who was twenty yards out.

Johanna, Peeta and Katniss joined Rose, was brought herself shakily to her feet. Katniss seemed ready to depart from the group as she tossed aside her weapons and said, "Cover me." She raced down the beach, leaving the three of them watching her.

"Where's she going?" Rose said to no one in particular.

They saw Katniss going to Wiress's body, which was now floating in the water as well as the two other dead tributes, and Johanna said disgustedly, "I think she's getting that wire from Nuts."

"Don't call her that, Johanna," Peeta said.

"Why not, Lover Boy?" Johanna fired at him.

"It isn't very respectful of the dead," said Peeta, and Johanna frowned at him as he turned and ran to help Finnick bring Beetee to shore.

Katniss came back, panting, but with the wire in her hand. Finnick and Peeta brought Beetee back, who still had his glasses. Rose looked on with a sigh of relief as Katniss handed him his wire, which was now free of blood. He unwound it and almost seemed to be playing with it. Rose gulped when she realized that he was thinking of his district partner.

Katniss hugged Peeta and Finnick and Rose and even Johanna looked sober as they all stood there quietly for few minutes, the only noise the sound of the water lapping against the beach.

Rose sniffed and rubbed at her nose. Wiress had been her buddy for almost two days and now she was dead. Gone. Gone forever.

Finally Johanna said sharply, "Let's get off this stinking island."

They all nodded solemnly and got ready to leave. Finnick tore off his undershirt and wrapped it around his thigh, which Rose just now noticed had a gaping wound on it.

"What happened?" she asked, concerned.

"Cashmere and a knife," he replied, tying it good and tight. "That'll have to do."

"Beetee, can you walk?" Katniss asked the man.

After a moment, he nodded and said, "I think so."

"Which beach are we going to?" Johanna asked, slinging an axe over her shoulder.

Rose shrugged and Beetee said, "Let's head to the twelve o'clock beach."

"Don't see why not," shrugs Peeta, and Finnick nods, and Peeta, him and Johanna all headed off into three different directions. They all stopped to turn to look at each other and Rose almost felt like laughing as they eyed each other.

"Twelve o'clock, right?" said Peeta. "The tail points at twelve."

"Before they spun us," Finnick pointed out. "I was judging by the sun."

"The sun only tells you it's going on four, Finnick," Katniss said.

"I think Katniss's point is, knowing the time doesn't mean you necessarily know where four is on the clock. You might have a general idea of the direction. Unless you consider that they may have shifted the outer ring of the jungle as well," said Beetee, looking up.

Rose nodded. "Just because the beach moved about doesn't mean that any of the things that happen every hour moved."

Katniss nodded. "Yes, so any one of these paths could lead to twelve o'clock."

They all nodded and Finnick said, "Shall we see if we can spot what is happening now?"

They all nodded again and they circled the cornucopia, looking around at the jungle.

"I never should have mentioned the clock," Katniss said after a few minutes of searching and scrutinizing the other tributes' tracks. "Now they've taken that advantage away as well." She wrinkled her nose in annoyance.

"Only temporarily," said Beetee as he limped, leaning on Rose, who was patiently helping him with one arm while her other hand held her weapon. "At ten, we'll see the wave again and be back on track."

"Yes, they can't redesign the entire arena," Peeta pointed out.

Rose nodded and then looked at Johanna, who said impatiently, "It doesn't matter. You had to tell us or we never would have moved our camp in the first place, brainless." She looked even more impatient wielding her axe as she said, "Come on, I need water. Anyone have a good gut feeling?"

Rose looked about and said, pointing into the jungle, "How about we just go that way?"

They all looked to where her finger was pointing. It looked like relatively plain, ordinary looking jungle, which meant that it would be anything but. Still, what other paths looked different?

They all agreed and went swimming and then walking on the beach. Once they reached the beach, they hurried to the jungle to see what horror it would have.

"Well, it must be monkey hour. And I don't see any of them in here," Peeta said, looking intently into the jungle. "I'm going to try to tap a tree."

"No, it's my turn," Finnick said quickly.

"I'll at least watch your back," said Peeta.

Johanna stepped forward and said, "Katniss can do that. We need you to make a new map. The other washed away." She yanked off a leave and shoved it at him.

Katniss looked suspiciously at Johanna for a moment while Rose helped Beetee to the ground. Already, the walking and swimming had made him very pale, and he wasn't looking too good.

"Just . . . rest now," Rose told him.

He nodded and looked back to his wire and Rose stood back up, brushing off her pants, which had attracted sand, which was now attached to her wet pants.

After a moment, Katniss joined Finnick, and Peeta started on a new map. Johanna sank to the ground and began to run her axe through the sand (obviously thinking, by the look on her concentrated face).

Rose took a deep breath and settled down on the sand. There was no need for her to move at the moment, and she didn't feel like moving. She had never felt more tired in her entire life, and she traveled with the Doctor.

All she wanted to do was sleep, but sleep was very hard to come to when screams came in from the jungle. Loud, girlish, but terrifying screams.

**LONG CHAPTER IS LONG. I hope you all like it, and THANK YOU FOR READING. **


	5. Friendships Grow and Plans Do Too

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the Hunger Games or Doctor Who. A rather long chapter! Thank you for reading!**

Rose immediately straightened, looking about and her eyes settling on the jungle. "What's that?"

"That's screaming. It sounds like Prim," Peeta said quickly, standing up.

"I think we're going to have to go find out," said Johanna dryly as she stood up, picking up her axe. Rose nodded, though she felt far more worried than she let on, and tossed Peeta a knife as she picked up her sword. She followed Johanna and Peeta to the edge of the jungle, Beetee following them all at a slow pace so to not add more injury to his back.

The fast three ran, sending sand past them, Johanna yelling out Finnick's name over the sounds of the yells; Peeta called out Katniss's name quickly, his voice sounding concerned, "Katniss!"

Rose could barely catch her breath, never mind yell. Did these two go running on a regular basis? She would think that she'd be able to run and yell, seeing as traveling with the Doctor a large part of their day was running and yelling.

They came to the edge of the trees and Johanna, who was running in front, suddenly fell back, bumping into Peeta. Rose ran up to them, panting quietly, as Peeta stumbled back into a standing position and reached out his hand.

"What is it?" Rose asked as Peeta's hand hit something.

"Don't know. Must be a Gamemaker's trick or something," Johanna said, her voice bitter, as she drew back and lifted her axe and tried to dent the wall. Unfortunately, nothing happened. She grunted and did it again and again, but to no avail.

Rose attempted to use her sword but it did nothing. Peeta drew out his knife as he hit the wall again and again before realizing that it could do nothing, and he let the knife fall to the ground. Peeta's now knife-free hand joined his other hand as he put them against the wall, his face looking concerned.

"It's like . . . some sort of glass," said Rose, walking forward, her hand reached out. She touched it, and it felt like glass. It looked like glass. Why was it there? "We don't know what this section of the arena has, do we?" she said, looking up to the top and back and forth to the sides of it.

"No," said Peeta, his voice sounding concerned.

"Maybe this has something, and it's sectioned off until the hour is over," Rose said, looking at him.

"Maybe," said Johanna, though she didn't sound like she was sure that Rose was right. Beetee came up to her side and she ignored him as she said, "So the thing they have for this section is screaming?"

"Apparently," said Rose, taking a step back.

"Katniss is in there," Peeta said.

Rose looked at him with sad eyes and he looked at her, his eyes full of panic, and she said, "There's nothing we can do, Peeta. Not until the hour's gone."

He let out a shaky breath but kept his hands against the wall, looking into the sectioned off jungle as if he could somehow will Katniss to him.

Rose shook her head and stepped back.

They all waited, Johanna still throwing the wall an occasional beating of her axe, her hands firmly on her weapon to keep it from bouncing away, but it did nothing.

Several minutes passed and Rose had bitten her lip so hard that she had drawn blood. It was always the waiting that was the hardest part. Anything could happen in the time that it took for them to get back to the beach. They hadn't heard any cannon shots, thank goodness, but was it only a matter of time before they did?

Finally they were all startled by two bodies being thrown against the wall. Peeta pressed harder against the wall. Katniss stepped back, holding her shoulder, which was bruised looking. Finnick stepped back as well, a hand at his nose, which was gushing blood from where he had run into the wall.

Katniss looked up and saw the four on the other side of the wall and she quickly realized that they couldn't come to their aid. She put a hand against Peeta's and they looked at each other for a moment, knowing that Katniss and Finnick would have to stay in there for the rest of the hour.

Rose looked at the sand, not wanting to look at their pained faces. The Doctor always looked sad like them now, and she knew that if he was here, he'd be saying to Peeta in his quiet, serious voice, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

She stared at the ground, not wanting to move her eyes for fear that she would be reminded too much about the Doctor, who she wanted to be with so much now. She only looked up (rather quickly) when she heard Beetee say, "Oh no. Jabberjays."

Rose looked to the jungle and saw that many birds were starting to appear, their beaks wide open, making muffled screams. Only she was sure that the screams were not muffled behind the glass, for Finnick was on the ground, covering his ears with his hands, looking completely and utterly anguished.

Katniss didn't fall so easily to the screams, though. She used her arrows to take several out, emptying her quiver before the birds came too quickly in too great numbers, and after a while, she gave up too.

They waited, all watching the two pained looking people behind the glass, when suddenly Peeta almost fell over as the walls gave way and the birds, all quiet now, flew away.

Peeta immediately went to Katniss and wrapped his arms around her, picking her up. Beetee looked sober as Johanna and Rose went over to Finnick. Johanna picked him harshly up by the arms so that he was standing, her lips set in a straight line.

"That-that was Annie," he moaned. "They tortured her. They took her screams."

"What?" Rose said as she wrapped an arm around his shoulders as they all stumbled toward their camp.

"Jabberjays. They can repeat human sounds. The screams must have sounded like Annie and Prim's screams," said Johanna.

Rose felt a deep pain as she imagined one of those horrible birds screaming one of the Doctor's screams, or her mum's or Mickey's, and she hugged Finnick tighter.

She looked to Katniss and Peeta, who was telling her that that wasn't Prim's voice, whoever Prim was. They were sitting together on the beach, Katniss in his lap, Peeta's soothing voice calming her down.

"You really believe that?" she said, and he nodded quickly, holding her close to him.

"I really do," he replied quietly.

"Do you believe it, Finnick?" Katniss said shakily, looking to Finnick and Rose. Rose moved a bit away to look at him as he spoke.

"It could be true. I don't know," he said shakily, and Rose began to rub circles on his back. He didn't look at her as he continued, looking to Beetee, "Could they do that, Beetee? Take someone's regular voice and make it . . ."

"Oh, yes," said Beetee seriously, "it's not even that difficult, Finnick. Our children learn a similar technique in school."

"It wasn't her," said Rose, looking to Katniss, who was looking at the ground, as though the ground was somehow more comforting than the people around her.

"Of course Peeta's right," said Johanna, leaning away from the tree she was leaning against. "The whole country adores Katniss's little sister." Ah. That was who Prim was. "If they really killed her like this, they'd probably have an uprising on their hands. Don't want that, do they?" Johanna looked up toward the sky, (thank goodness her axe was on the ground, for she looked bitterly mad) and yelled, "Whole country in rebellion? Wouldn't want anything like that!"

Rose looked at her silently as Johanna looked back to everyone and said, picking up a couple of shells, "I'm getting water." She watched Johanna walk away, thinking silently of how bold she was. With this talk of the Capitol she had had with Cashmere (who she now remembered to have died) and with this rebellion and these Games, she was sure that calling that out was not a good thing. The Capitol obviously had a lot of power and with them forcing people to kill other people, Rose was sure that treasonous talk was not a good thing to be saying.

Katniss reached out for Johanna's hand, saying, "Don't go in there. The birds -"

"They can't hurt me," Johanna told her defiantly, "I'm not like the rest of you." She looked around, meeting eyes with everyone. Peeta looked back at her, looking hurt, Katniss sad, Finnick defeated, Beetee solemn, Rose looking a bit defiant. The Capitol didn't know who Mum and Mickey were. Did they know about the Doctor, though? She gulped, looking away from Johanna, and looked back to the jungle, wondering if she stepped in there would she hear the screams of the Doctor.

"There's no one left that I love," Johanna added bitterly, and she went and brought back water as the rest of them went and sat on the beach, all feeling a bit broken.

Johanna went to collect Katniss's arrows while Beetee fiddled with his wire. Rose helped Finnick up and he said, "I'm heading to the water."

"Mind if I come with?" Rose asked him.

He shrugged and she followed him to the water. He was down to his boxers as he went in, and Rose took off her shirt so that she had her undershirt on. She put it far away enough from the waterline, putting her shoes on top so that it would not blow away.

Stepping lightly to avoid the shells, she waded into the water, hiking up her pants. She caught Finnick looking at her, a quiet smirk on his face.

"What?" she said.

"You look ridiculous," he said.

"Well, not everyone can look as ridiculously gorgeous as you! Besides the green stuff on your skin isn't helping you," Rose said with a smile. She looked around, the waves going back and forth, and said, "Do you like swimming a lot?"

"You don't know my district very well, do you?" he said cheekily. He went down on his back and said, looking up at the sky, "I'm from District Four, the district with all the water." He looked up and found her and added, "We have beaches and that sort of stuff."

"You spend a lot of time at the beaches, then?" Rose asked him. One of her pant legs slipped and she quickly scooped it up and tugged it harder to try to make it stay up.

"Oh, yeah. Since I'm a victor, I don't have to work," he replied.

Rose nodded as she said, "Did you met any pretty girls on the beaches?"

He shrugged and through the water and came up sputtering. Rose looked at him with a bit of concern, but only a little. After all, didn't he just tell her that he had spent his whole life by the beaches?

"Yeah, I guess," he said as he began to swim back to her.

"Anyone worth sharing?" Rose asked him.

He stayed silent as he went to shore, passing her. Rose watched him and began to walk to the shore as well. He brought himself up to the shore and turned and sat on the sand, letting his legs dangle in the water as his torso stayed in the air.

"There's someone, isn't there?" Rose asked him, taking a seat next to him, looking at him, concerned by the way he could so easily switch personalities.

"Yeah, there's a someone," he said quietly. He glanced around nervously, and Rose remembered the cameras. Hopefully they weren't concentrating on them.

"Who is she?" Rose asked him, her voice low.

"A girl, another victor. I was her mentor."

Rose looked at the sand as she said, "Annie. She's Annie, isn't she?"

"Yeah," he rasped. "Annie Cresta. She - in her Games, a dam broke, and she survived by out swimming everyone. She's from my district."

Rose nodded and he continued, pulling his legs out of the water. "She watched her district partner die. Got beheaded. She went crazy, after that." He drew his legs to his chest and hugged them to himself as he looked ahead to where the sun was setting.

"What happened after that?" Rose asked him. "Are-are you two together, or not?"

"Yeah," he said. "She was supposed to come into the arena. She was, and . . . and Mags volunteered in her place."

"Your district partner?" Rose asked him.

"Yeah. She died in the fog."

Rose nodded and said, to try to make the subject a bit more happy, "What does Annie look like?"

A small smile was on his face as he said, "Annie is . . . she's a sight to behold. She looks kinda crazy, her brown hair is always crazy, and her eyes, green eyes-"

"Green eyes are nice," Rose smiled.

"Yeah, they are. Hers, though, they look . . . distant. Like she's always looking beyond me when I look at her." He looked back to Rose and said, "Does that make any sense?"

Rose thought back to the Doctor and his striking blue eyes and how deep they looked, and how they always looked like they were a storm full of emotions, and said, "Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense."

He nodded and added, "And she is . . . amazing." He looked sad as he said, "I hope to get back to her, somehow."

"When did you fall in love with her? Was it . . . love at first sight?" asked Rose, waving a hand around.

"Nah. She sorta grew on me. She was quiet, and crazy, but she grew on me," Finnick said quietly. He looked to Rose and said in a steadier voice, "Do you have someone?"

"Well," Rose said, shrugging, "it's complicated."

"You can tell me," said Finnick, giving her a poke on the shoulder.

Rose smiled and said, "Well, you see, I have a-a boyfriend. His name is Mickey. He's nice and all and we had a lovely relationship, but I think it sort of, well, ended, by itself. I-I sort of went traveling, and he didn't come with me."

"You went traveling by yourself?" asked Finnick.

"No. I-I met this wonderful man, who took me with him. And we went traveling."

"And who is this wonderful man?" Finnick wanted to know.

"He goes by the name of Doctor," Rose said quietly.

"'Doctor?' Just 'Doctor?' No Doctor Smith or anything like that?" Finnick said teasingly.

"Nope, just the Doctor. He's the one who's going to get us out of here," Rose told him.

Finnick's smile faded as he nodded quietly and said, "Okay. We'll be seeing about that."

"He WILL be getting us out of here," Rose told him quickly. She was not about to have the Doctor not be trusted by Finnick, who seemed to look almost deflated at the idea of the Doctor rescuing them.

Suddenly the air filled with the loud sound of a cannon being fired. Finnick and Rose looked back to see that everyone that was in their alliance was still alive, and then they looked about the beach, but saw no one getting lifted up.

Finnick nodded silently and stood up. Rose quickly stood up as well, gathering up her pant legs in her hands to keep them from getting wet.

"Let's go back," he said, and so Rose followed Finnick to their camp.

They watched a claw go down several times to pick up a tribute and then they settled down quietly to do their work.

Peeta made a new map on a leaf, adding the jabberjays to the four-to-five zone and simply the beast for the six-to-seven zone. Rose sat at his side, watching them carve in the words.

When he finished, Rose went and helped Finnick gather up leaves and she watched him weave a basket and make a net out of vines and such. He was really rather good. His basket was waterproof and his expert fingers looked like they had handled nets and rope all of his life.

Katniss took to the water, taking a swim and cleaning fish that Finnick caught with his nets.

It grew incredibly dark when Katniss brought over their raw fish supper. They all settled about Finnick's mat to eat it when they heard something, a something like a song.

Rose looked up, as did everyone else, and they saw the Capitol band appear, and the song that had played last night played now, showing off the faces of those who were dead.

Rose looked silently on, watching as Cashmere's face first appeared with the number 1. The man who killed Wiress was next. Then there was Wiress and Mags. Rose knew because of the 4 by her, and she looked to Finnick as her picture rolled away. He bit his lip and looked down at his fish.

Then there was a woman from District 5, a yellowish looking person and then Blight, Johanna's district partner. Rose looked to Johanna when he appeared, but she kept an even face as the anthem ended and the sky became dark once more.

The blonde looked down at the ground. That was eight, like there was eight gone yesterday. That was nearly two-thirds of everyone in the arena gone. Dead.

"They're really burning through us," said Johanna nonchalantly as she reached for a piece of fish.

"Who's left? Besides us six and District Two?" Finnick asked, looking around the group.

"Chaff," Peeta said. Rose had no idea who Chaff was.

The sound of something hitting the ground made everyone turn around. Peeta picked up something that looked like a little silver pot and opened it, and turning to Beetee, said, "A parachute. These are from your district, right, Beetee?"

The parachute was opened, revealing a bunch of bite size rolls in it.

"Yes, from District Three," said Beetee, "how many are there?"

Finnick took the parachute and taking them all out, lined them up carefully with his hands. Rose leaned closer and mentally counted. By the time that Finnick had three rows, she said, "There's twenty-four."

"An even two dozen?" asked Beetee.

Rose nodded and Finnick said, looking up from the bread, "Twenty-four on the nose. How should we divide them?"

"Let's each take three and if everyone here is alive tomorrow morning, we can each have one more," said Johanna, taking a bite of her raw fish.

Katniss threw her a look, which Johanna returned, and when they finished eating, they all lay about the beach. Rose lay on her stomach and watched the waves of the water lap against the beach. She leaned her head against her folded arms and watched, her eyes open for sounds of cannon shots.

They heard the tidal wave wash over the ten-to-eleven part of the beach and they packed up their things and moved over to that beach so that they would have twelve hours of protection. It wouldn't do to be woken up in the middle of the night with some trouble upon you.

Rose helped Beetee along as they walked, and she noticed that he was looking carefully at his wire, seemingly thinking hard.

"Do you have a plan for that?" she asked him.

"I believe I do," he replied. Rose nodded and while curious as to what his plan was, was too tired to ask any more questions, and so she took that for an answer as they settled down to make camp once more.

The sound of clicking insects told them what the eleven-to-twelve part of the arena had. Once settled, Katniss and Peeta volunteered for the first watch, for which everyone else was grateful. Johanna had barely gotten an hour of sleep in the arena, and Beetee with his injury needed sleep. Finnick and Rose just looked at each other with weary eyes and laid down on the beach, Finnick saying, "I'll take second watch."

"I'll join you," Rose said wearily. Her muscle went lax and the last thing she could make out was the sound of the waves before sleep washed over her and she fell asleep.

* * *

"Oh, come on. You can tell me your plan," the Doctor said to Haymitch, lounging on his chair so that his legs were dangling over the left side of his chair. "It's not like the Capitol can listen in on us, right?"

"They can't, but they could be," Haymitch said irritably.

"What answer is that?" the Doctor wanted to know. "C'mon, you can tell me. I'm a master at escape plans. Or, well, that's what Rose says." He rummaged through one of his pockets and lifting up a metallic device, said, "I've got a sonic screwdriver."

Haymitch ignored the sonic screwdriver. The Doctor slipped it back into his pocket and leaning toward Haymitch, said in a serious voice, "Haymitch, my friend is in that arena, same as yours. I want to get her out as much as you want to get your kids out. Believe me when I say that I can help. I can't help when I don't know what the plan is."

Haymitch, after a minute of the Doctor looking at him, leaned toward one of the screens and pointed to Beetee, who was between Johanna and Finnick.

"See that wire Beetee has?" asked Haymitch.

The Doctor nodded, glad that Effie wasn't here, peeking in and wondering what they were talking about.

"See that tree?" Haymitch said, pointing to one of the trees in the arena. It was at the edge of the jungle and was rather tall.

The Doctor nodded and said, "Yeah, what about it?"

"That's the tree that gets hit at midnight, right?" said Haymitch. "With lightning."

"But it doesn't burn up," the Doctor reminded him.

"Right, but it's made so that it will not burn up," Haymitch said, rolling his eyes. "Tomorrow, Beetee will take his wire, and he'll string it across the arena. With the seawater and such, he's basically going to burn a hole into the shell around the arena."

"Without the protective shell, anyone in the outside world can just waltz right in," said the Doctor quietly.

"Yeah. I've got a hovercraft, and we're going to go in and rescue those still in the arena."

"So you're basically saying you'll be saving those still alive in the arena?" said the Doctor, looking at the screens.

"Yeah. The mentors from Three, Four, Six, Seven, Eight and Eleven have been helping."

"Oh, so that's why you've talked with them. Not about the alliance per say. You already knew that that alliance would happen, and you were just arranging everything."

"Yeah."

"So, I guess Rose was right when she said I'd help rescue them," the Doctor said, and looking to Haymitch, said, "what can I do?"

"Nothing at the moment," said Haymitch, "but we could probably use your knowledge in District Thirteen."

"Why? Because I'm brilliant?" The Doctor grinned before he said seriously, "What's this District Thirteen, then?"

Haymitch groaned and said, "Oi, I need a bottle. It's the thirteenth district of Panem. It was blown up, or so everyone thought, seventy-five years ago."

"Only it's not blown up. It's a secret district that the Capitol knows nothing about and OH! you're going to use it as a base to start a rebellion against the Capitol, OH, am I brilliant!" said the Doctor, leaning back in his chair, looking pleased with himself with figuring it out.

Haymitch rolled his eyes and the Doctor said, "So, when's this going to take place?"

"Tomorrow night," Haymitch said. "That's the plan."

"A'ight," the Doctor said, turning back to the screens. His eyes found Rose laying, eyes closed and asleep, on the beach. He looked at her longingly for a moment before he said softly, even though he knew that she could not hear him, "Hear that, Rose? We're coming for you tomorrow."

* * *

Rose woke up when someone gently shook her shoulder. "Hey, Rose," she heard, and she opened her eyes to see Finnick looking rather distressed but calm under the moonlight.

"What?" she asked.

"C'mon," he said, and she sat up. Looking to where his finger was pointing, he said, "Look at them."

Rose looked at them, which was Katniss and Peeta. Their foreheads were together as they kissed each other fervently.

"Are they snogging? In the middle of the night?" Rose said with a light laugh, looking to Finnick, who was nodding.

"Well, they're kissing, anyway." He looked back to the two and said quietly, "The Capitol is going to EAT - THIS - UP."

"The Capitol's a bunch of romantics, I take it?" asked Rose.

"Nah. They just love the star-crossed lovers bit Katniss and Peeta have," said Finnick.

"They have a bit?" Rose whispered.

Finnick leaned closer and whispered, "It's complicated, but everyone thinks that Katniss and Peeta are in love. If you have a brain, it's obvious that they aren't."

"But they're snogging," Rose said.

Finnick shrugged and said, "Maybe everyone with brains are wrong too."

The two watched the other two for a moment before Rose whispered, "Should we do something now? It's our turn for the watch."

"Yeah," Finnick sighed. "Probably." He leaned forward to sit up when suddenly a loud bolt of lightning was heard, and he immediately covered his ears with his hands and let out a cry.

"Finnick, Finnick?" Rose said, sitting up as well, looking at his face in horror. He gritted his teeth and sucking in a breath, removed his hands and looked to Katniss and Peeta, who had stopped with their snogging and were looking at him in alarm.

"I can't sleep anymore," he said. "You two should rest."

"I'll stay up with him," said Rose immediately.

"No, I can stay up with him," said Peeta.

Rose shook her head and said, "I don't need to sleep. Besides, you just had your watch."

Katniss looked to Peeta and whispered, though Finnick and Rose could hear her, "You need sleep, Peeta."

"All right," he said quietly after a moment. He looked to Finnick and Rose and said, "Both of you will keep watch, then?"

They both nodded and Peeta and Katniss both lay down to sleep. Finnick and Rose crawled and stepped over the bodies of their unconscious companions as they made their way over to the front of them all.

They settled down and Rose faintly saw the waves go back and forth on the beach.

Rose watched them for a moment before she turned to Finnick and pushing some of her blonde hair out of her face, said quietly, "Are you all right, then?"

"I'm fine," he said quietly, looking out toward the waves. Rose knew though that deep down, he was not fine. He was merely telling her he was fine, putting up a façade. While Rose did not like being lied to, she could also see that Finnick did not want to talk about what was hurting him, especially when they were all surrounded by hundreds of cameras capturing their every move.

She just set her lips in a straight line and nodded. Looking out to the waves, she knew that there was a lot of secrets running around this arena. What was Beetee doing with his wire? Why were Katniss and Peeta pretending to be in love when they weren't in love but yet they were snogging together somewhat passionately?

Rose gulped and looked at the sand, and decided that the main thing she was going to focus on was keeping watch. At the moment.

When they heard the jabberjay screams, they covered their ears as the birds managed to wake up Johanna and Peeta, who had volunteered to take the third watch.

Rose barely got any sleep, for she was too nervous and uptight. They had been in the arena for three days now, and things were going along quickly. Already sixteen of the people who had entered the arena were gone.

At the back of her mind, she thought of how the Capitol was taking to her ruining their Hunger Games, but she also didn't really care. How could people who threw people into an arena to fight to the death have feelings other than greed and hatred?

She lay on her side and kept her eyes closed, willing for sleep to come, but failed miserably.

Soon enough the sun came up and they all woke up, Peeta and Katniss the last of all, snuggling against each other. Rose looked at them with a slight look on her face, remembering last night, and for a split second, she felt a sense of wishing. She quickly shook her head, however, and looked up when she saw another parachute fall.

She picked it up and held it to her eye level, saw the 3 on it, and brought it over to Beetee.

"Here, another parachute," she told him. He opened it, revealing another twenty-four rolls.

"Let's each have four this morning, then," Beetee said, handing it back to Rose. "Then there'll be six for later."

Rose nodded and took the rolls over to the other rolls by Finnick's mat. The owner of said mat was out fishing with his nets. Rose watched him. He looked quite better than he had on watch, and happier when he brought in his netful of fish.

After they finished eating, Katniss grabbed Peeta's hand and said, "Come on. I'll teach you how to swim," and the two hurried to the water.

Rose chewed her roll thoughtfully and happened to glance over to Finnick, who was making a mischievous face at her before looking back to Katniss and Peeta. Rose nearly choked as she bent over so that no one could see her face. She came back up to see Finnick grinning, Johanna vaguely annoyed at what she was laughing about, and Beetee minding his own business as he finished with his rolls.

They all stayed busy as the two star-crossed lovers went out to the water together. Beetee played with his wire. Johanna kept an alert watch out. Rose helped Finnick gather leaves and watched him weave them into another basket.

"That's brilliant, that is," said Rose as his fingers moved.

"Thanks. It's waterproof too," Finnick said.

Rose nodded and watched him until he had a basket done. He put it on the beach and looked up when Katniss called, "Hey, Finnick, come on in! We figured out how to make you pretty again!"

Finnick nodded and ran in. Rose smiled as he picked cleaned the remnants of the green stuff off of himself, making him look quite handsome again.

Once they were done, the three came to the camp where they applied more of the green stuff to their skin. Rose thought it looked like something that could be alien, the wave that it smelled and looked terribly green.

She heard someone clear his throat and she turned to Beetee, who began to call them all to him.

"What is it?" she asked him.

"I've figured out what to do with this wire," he said, holding up the spool.

Rose nodded quickly. He had spent so much time working with that wire that she had hoped that he would come up with something soon. He hadn't been a person to be rushed, which had made her slightly worried, but with a plan? She felt better as she sat down.

Johanna, Katniss, Peeta and Finnick joined them, and Beetee, holding up the wire, said simply, "I think we'll all agree our next job is to kill Brutus and Enobaria." Rose recognized their names to be some of the ones that Johanna was muttering when she led them through the jungle on the first day. Apparently they were the two tributes that had attacked them along with Cashmere and the one who killed Wiress.

"I doubt that they'll attack us openly again, now that they're so outnumbered. We could track them down, I suppose, but it's dangerous, exhausting work."

"Do you think that they figured out about the clock?" Katniss wanted to know.

"If they haven't, they'll figure it out soon enough," and Beetee began to explain to them the slightly complicated plan of his. Rose was used to these sort of things; complicated plans using wires was something that happened to her on a regular basis. While Finnick, Johanna, Katniss and Peeta looked a bit confused, Rose nodded slowly continually as Beetee told them his plan.

With his wire, they would take it over to the tree that got struck by lightning at midnight. That night, before the lightning struck the tree, they would string the wire from the tree through the salty water and keep it on the soaked beach. The lightning that struck the tree would electrify the entire beach, killing the other tributes if they were near the beach. They probably would be, seeing as the beach was the only source of other tributes and seafood and supplies from the cornucopia.

Beetee looked expectantly around everyone. Peeta gulped and said, "Will that wire really be able to conduct that much power, Beetee? It looks so fragile, like it would just burn up."

"Oh, it will. But not until the current has passed through it. It will act something like a fuse in fact. Except the electricity will travel along with it," said Beetee patiently.

Rose nodded. She could just imagine the Doctor, wherever he was, talking excitedly at this discovery. He'd think that Beetee was a bloody genius, and let him know it too.

"How do you know?" Johanna wanted to know.

Rose's small seed of respect for Beetee grew as he said, "Because I invented it. It's not actually wire in the usual sense. Nor is the lightning real lightning nor the tree a real tree." He looked to spiky haired Johanna and said, "You know trees better than any of us, Johanna. It would be destroyed by now, wouldn't it?"

"Yes," Johanna said quietly.

"Don't worry about the wire - it will do just what I say," said Beetee reassuringly.

He smiled as he looked to Finnick, who was saying, "And where will we be when this happens?"

"Far enough up in the jungle to be safe."

"The Careers will be safe too, then, unless they're in the vicinity of the water," Katniss said.

"That's right," said Beetee, like he was congratulating her for thinking of that point and pointing her out.

"But Beetee has a point," Rose said, looking to the man from District 3. "It's a good way to take out any of the Ca-Careers, if they're near the beach."

"But all the seafood will be cooked," said Peeta after a moment.

Beetee nodded. "Probably more than cooked. We will most likely be eliminating that as a food source for good. But you found other edible things in the jungle, right, Katniss?"

Katniss nodded and after a few minutes, they agreed to Beetee's plan. Rose agreed the most quickly, for she knew that while things could go horribly wrong with using wires, she knew a man that knew wires could do a good and responsible job. At the moment, she trusted Beetee with knowing that he had that knowledge.

Beetee expressed interest in checking out the tree, and since he was the one with the plan, they all agreed. Packing up the camp, they broke their little settlement and hurried over to the lightning part of the beach.

They headed into the jungle bordering the beach. Finnick and Peeta took turns carrying up Beetee, who was still weak from his back injury. Johanna, with her axe, led with Rose near her, who was carrying her sword. Katniss brought up the rear, ready to fire an arrow at ready.

Near the tree, Finnick turned to Katniss, panting slightly from the hot air and the long climb and Beetee on his back, and said, "Hey, Katniss!"

"Yeah?" she said swiftly, turning quickly so that her braid whipped her throat.

"How about you take the lead?"

Johanna frowned and he turned to her and said, letting Rose and Beetee enough volume to hear him, "Katniss can hear the force field."

"Hear it?" asked Beetee.

"Only with the ear that the Capitol reconstructed," Katniss said quickly.

Rose raised an eyebrow as Beetee nodded and said, "Then by all means, let Katniss go first."

Katniss hurried to the front and they began walking again.

Rose, keeping a healthy distance away from Johanna and her axe, said quietly, "What does she mean by the ear that the Capitol reconstructed?"

Johanna hacked away at a tree that was in front of her and said nonchalantly, "Oh, in her last Games, she survived an explosion with only a burnt out ear. The Capitol fixed it when she came out of the arena."

"Well, that's helpful. I guess," said Rose quietly, and she remained quiet for the remainder of their hike.

They came about to the tree soon enough, Katniss saying warningly, "Just stay below the lightning tree."

Beetee was set down and he doled out the duties for everyone. Finnick would be Beetee's body guard as he examined the tree. Johanna was to get water for everyone while Katniss hunted. Peeta and Rose were going to collect nuts and keep a general eye on their supply of weapons.

"Do you think anyone will steal them?" Rose said quietly as she and Peeta headed to a nut filled patch of black earth. She had put her weapon in the stack.

"I think if there was anyone here, they wouldn't attempt it. There's too many people around," Peeta said, bending down to pick up nuts.

Rose bent down as well and began to quickly fill one of the empty water baskets. Even though she didn't like the taste of the cooked nuts too much, they were going to be one of their primary food sources. She would just have to stomach them.

The sound of the ten o'clock wave startled them, but just for a minute. Rose merely set her jaw and went back to her task.

Katniss soon came back with three tree rats, and she and Rose and Peeta set to work on lunch. The two star-crossed lovers sat next to each other, tossing nuts and pieces of rat at the force field. Rose watched them out of the corner of her eye as she cut up the rats and peeled the nuts. They were still playing their act, or weren't they? The two looked quite easy together. They had a bit of chemistry, that was for sure.

Katniss smiled slightly at something that Peeta said, and when he looked back at the force field, she kept her gaze on him. Rose smiled despite herself and continued with her peeling. She bit her lip when she suddenly realized something. One of them had dark hair while the other had blond. . . .

She gulped and decided not to think about that. She would see the Doctor soon enough, and things would go back to normal after they all got out of this arena. Right?

At eleven o'clock, the sound of insects fill the air.

"It's not mechanical," said Beetee.

"I'd guess insects. Maybe beetles," said Katniss.

"Something of that sort, yeah," Rose said, gathering the last of the nuts.

"Something with pincers." Finnick set his lips into a thin line as he listened.

After a moment, Johanna said, "We should get out of here, anyway. There's less than an hour before the lightning starts."

Rose nodded and she helped Peeta carry the food while Finnick took Beetee and Katniss and Johanna took guard duty. Rose gulped and felt a bit of wariness as they made their way to the blood rain section of the arena.

They settled down at the exact replica of the lightning tree and had their lunch of nuts, rats and water. The nuts, Rose decided, weren't TOO bad when she ate them with the rat. Thinking that if a year ago someone told her that in a year she'd be eating tree rat in a barbaric arena with a strange group of people, Rose would have thought them mental. Now, having traveled with the Doctor, she was slowly becoming not too surprised at anything anymore.

Once they were done, they headed back to the ten o'clock beach. The sand was smooth and hard, easy to walk on because of the tidal wave. Rose could see no footprints on the beach, meaning that the other tributes hadn't been there for the last couple of hours.

A new camp was built and Beetee said, "You all can do what you want before tonight. The plan's going to take a bit of thinking, and I'll do that."

A free afternoon. Sounded inviting to everyone. They could relax and all they had to do was make sure that they didn't get attacked by any of the other tributes. For their exciting afternoon activities, they settled for keeping watch while the others took naps. Rose wanted to stay up in case something happened, knowing that she really couldn't sleep all that well, but Finnick and Johanna told her to get sleep or else (the last part that been added by Johanna).

She lay by the shadowy part of the beach near the jungle. She could hear Katniss and Peeta breathing behind her back, and she curled inwardly. A stray finger picked at the sand particles. She didn't even close her eyes. She knew she couldn't sleep.

She quickly took her watch when her turn came, replacing Johanna, who, despite acting quite tough, had bags under her eyes and was stifling a yawn as she strode past Rose.

Rose sat by Finnick, who was laying on his stomach, getting a back tan.

"How's it looking?" he asked her.

"Good, I guess?" she said. She leaned away and said, "You can't get much tan from where I come from. We have too many clouds and rain."

"District Four has a lot of sunlight. You look out of place if you had something like your skin there," he said, poking her foot.

"I look fine, thank you," Rose smirked, moving her foot out of his reach.

"Okay," he said, and he looked back to the beach. "You know, I bet there's a lot of seafood still in there."

"Probably is," Rose said, pushing hair out of her face.

He turned his head to look at her and said, "Want to go fishing? Get us a big feast before this whole place gets cooked?"

"Yeah," Rose said, nodding. "Why not?"

"Yeah, let's," he said, and he stood up. Rose stood up as he turned and they walked over to Katniss, Peeta and Johanna, who were all getting a lot of sand in their hair.

"Hey, guys," he said as they all sat up, blinking. "Let's go fishing. I can teach you, and we can get a bunch of seafood and have a big dinner before Beetee does his thing tonight."

"I don't feel like moving," Johanna told him as she closed her eyes and laid back down.

"Come, Johanna," Finnick said, but she groaned and ignored him. After a moment, he bent down and scooped her up and flung her over his shoulder.

"Finnick. Let me go, NOW," Johanna protested as he turned around. Finnick grinned and ignored her. Rose smirked as Johanna twisted her torso and pounded a fist against Finnick's back, saying, "Come on! LET ME GO, ODAIR."

Finnick didn't answer her but instead dumped her into the water while Katniss, Peeta and Rose went and gathered up fishing supplies from their possessions. Finnick's trident and the spears went to use. Katniss even managed to make a good looking hook out of a fish bone.

Johanna was quite good at spearing fish, which she did viciously, filling one of the woven baskets full. Peeta and Rose, holding one such basket between them, waded out and gathered up oysters. Finnick and Katniss joined them and by late afternoon, they had their baskets full of fresh seafood for their big supper.

Once done, they carried the baskets to shore and Johanna quickly volunteered to keep watch, obviously not wanting to bother with the seafood anymore.

The other four laid out the seafood, prying open the oysters and gutting and scaling the fish.

Peeta opened his first oyster using his knife, and he let out a laugh. "Hey, look at this!"

Rose looked over to him from where she was squatting next to Finnick and said, "What is it?"

"A pearl," said Finnick.

"You know, if you put enough pressure on coal it turns into pearls," Peeta smirked.

"No, it doesn't," Rose and Finnick said in unison. Katniss, however, cracked up.

Peeta smiled and rinsed the pearl. "For you," he said, handing it to Katniss. She looked it over as the rest of them turned back to their cleaning and opening.

"Thanks," she whispered, looking at Peeta, who looked back at her with a calm expression. Rose watched them before quickly turning back to her oyster, nearly cutting off the tip of her finger.

The look on Peeta's face was gone when Rose looked back at him, however, and he said, "The locket didn't work, did it? Katniss?"

"It worked," Katniss told him.

"But not the way that I wanted it to," Peeta said quietly.

Katniss did not reply. After a few minutes' silence, Finnick cleared his throat and said, "Let's get this to Beetee. Time to eat."

"Yep," Rose said and she helped Finnick carry one of the heavy baskets over to Beetee.

Just when they were about to eat, Katniss turned her head about and said, "Wait, there's another parachute."

Peeta caught it and said, "It's for Beetee."

"What is it?" Finnick wanted to know.

"Rolls, again," Peeta said. He smiled a moment at looking at the bread and then added as he put the parachute in the middle of the seafood, "And red sauce."

"Probably for the seafood," Finnick said.

"Awfully thoughtful of them," Rose said.

Finnick grinned and said, "Believe me, it'll make them taste better." Rose nodded. If he lived near the water all his life, he'd probably want as much variety as he could with his seafood. He leaned forward and his lips moved as he counted before saying out loud, "Twenty-four again."

After the parachute, they ate nearly all the seafood, stuffing themselves. The shells of empty oysters worked as spoons to put sauce on the oysters, making them taste less like an oyster and something spicier and tastier. All in all, it was quite good, and everyone, including Johanna, enjoyed themselves. Finnick and Rose even managed to make her laugh.

Once they were done, Finnick and Peeta and Katniss took the leftovers and countless shells and threw them out into the water. They backed up a bit and Peeta and Katniss held hands, looking out over the water. Finnick joined Rose on the sand, sitting down.

"What's that look supposed to mean?" he asked her.

"What?" she said, turning from looking at Peeta and Katniss to him. She didn't have a look on her face. What look?

"What does that look mean?"

"What look?"

"The one on your face."

Rose shook her head and looked out toward the sunset. "Nothing."

"Sure?"

Rose gulped and nodded. "I'm sure."

**YAY FOR LONG CHAPPIES. Once again, thank you for reading! :)**


	6. Retrieving the Tributes

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Doctor Who. Or the Hunger Games. Thanks for sticking around and reading!**

The anthem played again that night, making Rose feel a bit more depressed than she had been. The faces played out in front of her, haunting her with the fact that they were gone now.

"What time is it?" Peeta wanted to know.

"Probably nine," Katniss said, and Finnick seconded her.

"We should probably head over to the twelve o'clock camp, then," Rose said quietly.

"Yes, we should pack up," said Beetee, and so they did so and carried all of their things toward the twelve o'clock wedge. It seemed to Rose that they didn't have a regular camp anymore. They had to move every few hours.

Everyone was sluggish as Beetee asked for Finnick to assist him. They headed to the large tree and Beetee began to unroll the wire into yards and yards of controlled chaos. The loops swerved around and around on the jungle floor as Finnick secured the end and twisted it around a large, broken off tree branch. Once he was done, he and Beetee stood on either side of the tree and passed the wire between them, winding it around the broad trunk.

The moon shone down, illuminating their work. The wire seemed to create an intricate maze on the tree. It shone with the light of the moon. It made Rose look up, and she suddenly wanted very much to go to the moon with the Doctor.

They finished just as the tidal wave from the ten o'clock camp washed over its wedge of sand and jungle. The tributes listened to it dismally, tired and feeling still full of their seafood and bread. The wave subsided after a while and Beetee and Finnick joined Peeta and the girls by their possessions.

That's when Beetee rubbed his hands together and told everyone the rest of his clever plan. Rose sat up straighter at this and listened as he explained. Johanna and Katniss were the fastest at running between them all, so they would make the best time. They would take the wire and go through the woods and lay the wire against the twelve o'clock beach. They would drop the end into the water, making sure that it sunk. Then they would run into the woods, away from it, as fast as possible. They would have to go. Now.

"I want to go with them as a guard," Peeta said immediately, looking at Katniss.

"You're too slow. Besides, I'll need you on this end," Beetee told him before he turned to Katniss, "Katniss will guard. There's no time to debate this. I'm sorry. If the girls are going to get out of there alive, they need to move now."

He handed the coil of wire to Johanna and Katniss turned to Peeta and whispered, "It's okay. We'll just drop the coil and come straight back up."

"Not into the lightning zone," warned Beetee. "Head for the tree in the one-to-two-o'clock section. If you find that you're running out of time, move over one more. Don't even think about going back on the beach, though, until I can assess the damage."

With the plan set, everyone stood up. Rose followed Finnick to the lightning tree. Once Peeta was done kissing Katniss, he and Beetee joined them, Johanna and Katniss's running figures disappearing.

"What's the plan?" asked Finnick, looking to Beetee.

"I'm going to check over the tree while I still have time. You three wait for when I tell you to come help me. When I call, come at once." He looked up at the sky and said quietly, "It won't be long."

Finnick too looked up at the sky. Rose did so as well, just to see what they were looking at. She wondered quietly to herself how it was outside of the arena, where the moon and stars were reachable, and there was even more moons and stars beyond them to explore.

She felt homesick for the TARDIS. And lonely for the Doctor.

"So now we wait?" Rose said quietly, turning back to Finnick and Peeta, Beetee having gone to the tree.

"Apparently," said Finnick. He glanced behind him at Beetee and said, "He'll do his thing, and we'll help him when he needs the help."

Peeta nodded and said, "I sure hope that the Careers are on the beach." He looked at the ground and said, "Wouldn't want Katniss out there risking her life for nothing." He looked to Finnick, who had his lips set in a line, and added, "Or Johanna."

They waited a few minutes on the beach. Peeta paced and Finnick sat next to Rose, none of them saying a word.

The eleven o'clock tragedy passed and suddenly Beetee let out a cry.

They all turned, Beetee saying, "Someone cut the wire."

A cannon shot filled the air, making them all look around, alarmed.

"How do you know that?" Finnick asked him, hurrying toward him.

"I was fiddling with it, and it was lighter. It's lax. It somehow got detached," and Beetee leaned forward and whispered something into Finnick's ear, something that made the man from 4 instantly turn and run into the direction that Johanna and Katniss had been going.

"What is he doing?" asked Peeta.

"Probably going to attach the wires?" Rose said quietly, though she highly doubted it. There had to be a technical way to reattach broken wire, and she was sure that Finnick and his knots (he had a habit of knotting the long leaves that were leftover from his weaving) was not going to work.

"Change of plans," said Beetee. "Rose, quick, get a knife from the supply pile. Hurry!"

Rose dared not ask him why he needed a knife and hurried and grabbed one and hurried to carry it to Beetee.

"What are you doing?" Peeta wanted to know as Beetee took it.

"I found a chink," he said. "Peeta, Rose, I want you to get weapons and I want you to guard me. Get me a knife, quick. You both need to keep watch _now_."

"O-of course," said Rose, and Beetee nodded as she and Peeta went to the weapon supply pile.

"What's happening?" Peeta said quietly.

"I have no bloody clue, but we'd better do what he says," Rose said as she grabbed her sword. She quickly grabbed a knife and ran it over to Beetee, who nodded, took it, and then turned away and began to walk.

Rose headed back to Peeta, who was looking concerned. "He's got a plan," she said. She was about to say more, but she stopped short when she spotted two figures in the distance. Were they Johanna or Katniss or Finnick? She couldn't tell in the dark.

They came closer and closer, running, and Rose turned to Peeta and said, "There's people here."

"Katniss?" he whispered. They both turned to the figures, who were picking up speed. It was then that Rose could make out how one had no hair and the other was a taller, stronger looking woman.

"Careers," she said quietly.

"Oh no," Peeta said as he stood up. Rose stood up as well, and looked to Peeta for his reaction.

"They better not have killed Katniss," he said under his breath.

Rose shot a look at Beetee and saw that he was doing something with the knife. He was fine, and he was the one with the plan.

"What do we do?" Peeta said quietly.

"Make sure that they don't kill Beetee," Rose said, her voice even, as she held up her sword. "He's the one with the plan, remember? If his plan works, they're gone. We just need to fend them off."

"All right," and he held up a sword and said, looking Rose dead in the eyes, "Ready?"

"Ready," she said, and they turned as the two Careers came plowing toward them. Rose held up her sword as Peeta took a few steps away from her so that they had enough space to fight. They had to defend Beetee and let him carry out the plan despite the mishap with wire. Rose shook a lock of blonde hair out of her face and took a deep breath. She only could hope that Beetee and Finnick could fix the wire. She didn't want to die trying to kill a Career. She wanted to get out of this arena. That was all.

So much for what she wanted.

The bald male Career went at Peeta, and Rose gulped as the woman came running at her, holding a sword with her, looking literally fit to kill. Her sword came at Rose and Rose let out a grunt as the sheer strength of the woman came against her as she held her sword out to protect herself from getting injured.

The woman, while looking strong, looked slightly confused as she said hostilely, "Who the hell are you?"

Rose grunted as she shoved the other sword away and said, "I'm Rose. Rose Tyler."

"Really? Fine. You're going to have to die, Rose Tyler," the woman said, and she went at Rose again, her sword slashing at the sword that Rose held out. She was glad now that she had been in other situations when she had to use a sword. At least she had a bit of practice to help her against this huge Career. Rose never thought that those situations would ever help her.

"What's . . . your . . . name then?!" Rose asked, grunting as they dueled, making deep footprints in the sand.

"Enobaria," the woman replied, and Rose let out a little cry when she had to bend back as Enobaria's sword nearly came to her neck.

She could hear Peeta fighting the man, both grunting loudly in the moonlight.

"Where's Finnick?" Enobaria asked her. "Don't tell me he ran away."

Rose gave her a dark look at the idea of Finnick running away. He had feelings, but he was not one to run away. Rose slashed at Enobaria and said, "He! Is finding! Katniss!"

"Oh, Girl on Fire? She's dead," said Enobaria, gritting her teeth as she lifted one of her feet and kicked Rose squarely in the stomach, sending her to the ground.

Rose grunted as she stood up, one hand holding her sword in front of her. No. Katniss wasn't dead. Enobaria was lying, trying to unhinge her. She would not let her. She would not let her.

She backed away unsteadily on her feet, trying to stand up. Enobaria followed her, taking small, slow steps, an evil look in her eye.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Peeta on his back, holding up his sword as the male Career towered over him, ready to kill him within seconds.

Rose quickly, without hesitation and but a quick breath, hurried over to Peeta and skewered the male Career in the back, near his heart.

She let out a gasp as she backed away, taking the sword with her. Peeta was panting, sweat on his forehead. The Career's mouth was open as he let out a grunt, and Peeta quickly scuttled out from under him like a crab, breathing heavily.

Rose, moving some of her hair out of her face, looked shocked as she and Peeta exchanged a look. A cry sent them looking to Beetee, and Rose quickly ran to him, Peeta getting back on his feet as a cannon shot filled the air.

Rose held out her sword and went at Enobaria, who was standing over Beetee. The man was laying on the ground, in obvious pain. Enobaria, unfortunately for Rose, noticed her going at her, and she ran out into the woods.

Rose did not pursue her but fell to Beetee's side. She gulped and looked hurriedly for a reason for him to be in pain, and she saw a long cut down his elbow, down the arm which was holding the knife, which was wrapped up in wire.

"Oh my gosh. What do we do?" Peeta said quietly.

"Go, and find Finnick," Rose said, and after a quick second, "and Katniss. Find Katniss." She turned her face up to face him and said quickly, pleadingly, "Peeta, go find Katniss!"

He nodded and said, "Okay," and he darted off, shouting Katniss's name.

Rose gulped and leaned back over Beetee, whispering, "Keep calm, Beetee. I-I know it hurts."

He let out a gasp and they sat there for a few minutes, Rose gulping and searching the woods for Finnick, Katniss, Johanna and Peeta, but saw no one. Until she saw the figure of Katniss show up, shouting out Peeta's name frantically.

"Katniss!" Rose said.

"Rose!" Katniss said, breathing hard as she fell next to Beetee, looking at him with horror. "What happened to him? Who did this to him?"

"Enobaria," Rose told her.

Katniss gulped and scrambled to one of the trees that was near her. She tore off some of the moss and put it at his wound and said, "Where's Peeta?"

"He went searching for you," Rose told her. She gulped and looked to see that Beetee was looking paler. She did not know how to clean the cut up, and she looked up and saw Katniss by the tree's trunk.

At first, Rose thought that Katniss would go out to find Peeta, but instead she was focusing on something else. She was looking at the knife in Beetee's hand with a concentrated look. Rose looked down at it, but didn't see why Katniss was looking at it like that. Beetee obviously was doing this because it was part of his plan. Why was Katniss looking at it so strangely?

Rose turned her head when she heard Peeta's voice call out, "Katniss! Katniss!"

"She's here, Peeta!" Rose called.

"Peeta! I'm here! Peeta! I'm here! I'm here! Peeta!" Katniss yelled, and Rose looked around frantically as she carefully stood up and grabbed her sword. There was two pairs of feet pounding toward them. They could be Finnick and Johanna, but Enobaria could be one of them too, chasing one of them. She had to be ready. Nobody was going to touch Beetee if they thought he was practically gone.

Finnick and Enobaria burst out of the jungle, running to the lightning tree. Finnick was being chased by Enobaria, but only barely. He himself looked stronger than her, as if he had a plan and could turn and kill her at any time.

Rose gulped as she held her sword, and raced to Finnick and Enobaria, ready to get at Enobaria in case she tried to go at Finnick. Rose wouldn't let Finnick die. He had Annie to go back to.

"Katniss!" Peeta called.

Rose went at Enobaria just as Finnick bent and grabbed one of the sword from their supply. He straightened up and joined Rose at fighting Enobaria, who was looking dark with her frown and her dangerous eyes.

Enobaria sent a hit at Finnick and Rose gave her a slash back, panting as she backed away. The thigh wound of Finnick's was bleeding again and he backed away, and Enobaria sent a hit at Rose, hitting her near the shoulder.

"Ahhhh!" Rose said as she dropped her sword, holding onto where Enobaria hit her. The pain engulfed her arm. Blood stained her hand as she turned her hand around to see it red. It reminded her of the blood rain.

Suddenly, maybe it was the pain in her shoulder, but Rose felt herself falling to the ground. She let out a soundless scream as she hit the black earth, her arm bubbling with pain. She could not move. She was on her side and curled in and she couldn't move. She could only breath and look up with her eyes as something exploded.

There was a light, a whitish-blue one that filled the arena. Once it died down, little bits of white matter fell down. Then there was . . . fireworks. Fireworks covered the sky, over the broken force field.

Rose groaned as she saw something block the lights. Something was moving in the sky, no, wait, two things.

One was moving faster, having a claw down lower. It was picking up bodies. Whose bodies? Rose saw Katniss's body get lifted up, and Finnick's, when she felt herself get grabbed by something. She heard shooting as she lifted highly, higher into the air. She could hear yelling and sounds of alarm as she came up through a hole into one of the things.

Her eyes squinted in the bright light as she felt feeling come back into her. The pain in her arm was overwhelming now and she heard screaming as something entered her arm.

Was she was one who had been screaming?

* * *

_An hour beforehand_

Haymitch had gone and led the Doctor to his secret hovercraft. The two had walked around the dark roof until they found it hidden away in the shadows.

They had met up with someone called Plutarch Heavensbee, who was the Head Gamemaker of the Quarter Quell and who was a secret spy for the rebellion. With his instructions, they had gone to the arena, which looked like a plain, green field. The Doctor had been very interested in how they had it disguised but was a bit annoyed by the fact that he had to stay in the mentoring room and had not be able to find his beloved TARDIS. He had even tracked her with his sonic screwdriver on their way to the roof but found the signal blocked.

Plutarch had the security cameras deactivated, and they waited in the hovercraft above the arena, ready for Beetee to go his plan. Once it was midnight, they'd go down and rescue the tributes before the Capitol could steal them away.

"Well, that means we're going to have to be faster, aye?" the Doctor said when the rest of the plan got revealed to him. Haymitch rolled his eyes and the Doctor said no more.

At eleven fifty-five, Haymitch hurried and the Doctor followed him to the ladder and claw, which they would use to gently bring up the most likely paralyzed tributes.

There was a computer that had several screens on it near the ladder and claw, and Haymitch and the Doctor leaned over toward them and watched them, adjusting camera angles when they needed to. After all, the Doctor noted, Haymitch stole this from the Capitol. It had all the things that the other Capitol hovercrafts had.

"Just a minute more," the Doctor said, almost to himself as he adjusted the camera so that it focused on Rose.

"Yeah," said Haymitch, though the Doctor could barely hear him as the mentor talked with a few other people on the hovercraft, all ready for extracting the tributes from the arena.

The Doctor's eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the screen. Rose was helping Finnick go against Enobaria, and Haymitch, though noting that Beetee had not done his job, nodded at the screen and said, "She'll do it."

"Who's doing what, exactly?" the Doctor said, peeling his eyes from the screen to look at Haymitch, perplexed.

Haymitch didn't answer him as he said, "Look out for a light. There's going to be a light."

"Ah, yes. With the force field breaking, something will illuminate the sky. Right, a light," the Doctor said, nodding as he turned back to the screen. His intuitive side slipped away as he gulped and looked at the screen, seeing Rose fight with a sword. He only could gulp thickly when he saw her get hit in the arm and fall. While she was out of the fight and not hit with a death blow, it hurt him to see her get wounded like that.

He knew that in a few minutes she'd be on the hovercraft, near him, no longer in danger of getting hurt or killed. She would be safe and with him. It was just the fact that they still had a few minutes to wait until that moment that was making him feel even more ill at ease.

He saw her back away and out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Katniss. The hovercraft shifted slightly as he leaned forward and saw her load an arrow, tied up in the wire, into her bow. She pointed it up, and released.

His eyes were set in a shielded manner as he watched things play out. Once the light disappeared, he looked to Haymitch, who was ordering around the people as the pilot lowered the hovercraft.

"Get that claw down there, we need to get them out," Haymitch growled as the claw slowly dropped down the hole.

The Doctor watched it fall and said, "It'd better hurry," before he ran a hand through his hair and turned back to the screens so that he could see everything properly. Everyone was sprawled on the ground, the light having overwhelmed them. Fireworks were set off, no doubt to distract the people watching who didn't know what the hell was going on. The arena was blowing up, trees in flames, the water in an uproar. Katniss was getting lifted by a claw, and Johanna was being lifted up by another one.

The Doctor knew from exploring the hovercraft on the ride over that there was only one claw on board, and so he looked away from the screens to see another hovercraft with a claw, looking dark and menacing as Johanna disappeared.

"There's another hovercraft! It's picking up tributes!" the Doctor said, turning to Haymitch, who swore under his breath as Katniss came up, looking nearly unconscious. Plutarch gently murmured something as he pushed her eyelids down, making her unconscious.

"Quick, get her out of here," Haymitch said hastily as his people quickly brought along a gurney. The claw went down again and the Doctor turned back to the monitor, panting as he searched for Rose. She had to be picked up by his hovercraft. He whispered hastily, "Come on, come on, Rose, don't get picked up by the other! Oh, Rose, please!"

The rebels' claw went down and picked up Finnick, who was looking unconscious as he flipped around, like he was having a bad dream.

The Doctor saw that the Capitol's hovercraft was picking up Enobaria, who looked limp. Rose still lay on the ground, an unconscious Beetee near her.

The sound of the fireworks filled the Doctor's ears, making him tense as he gulped and looked back to Haymitch, who was helping up Finnick. The handsome Career was choking on the smoke of the fireworks.

"You've got to get Rose," the Doctor said to Haymitch.

"Yeah, but we need Beetee and Peeta," Haymitch replied, patting Finnick awkwardly as he got injected with a syringe and was taken away.

"I NEED Rose," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, you need her. The entire rebellion needs Beetee and Peeta," Haymitch told him as he hurried over to the screens. "Steady! Get Beetee!"

The lights swirling around marred their vision, but they could see figures on the beach, and Beetee was grasped.

The Doctor's eyes widened as the other hovercraft went for Peeta. Haymitch swore and he turned and yelled, "Get Beetee up here, now!"

"Oh, Peeta," the Doctor said, though he was still very worried about Rose. She had not been picked up yet, and he had to get her back. He couldn't let the Capitol take her. Not lovely Rose Tyler, whose mother he made a promise to. He had promised to take care of her and keep her safe, and he was on edge until she was safe.

Beetee was brought up, but there was some difficulty in getting him out of the claw. He was stuck somewhat, and he was looking deathly pale as the rebels hurriedly tried to release him from the claw.

The Doctor managed to tear his eyes away from Rose to see their struggle with Beetee, and he hurried to his side as his hand slipped into his pocket and drew out his trusty sonic screwdriver. Pushing a button, the rays of the screwdriver opened the claw, and flipping the sonic screwdriver back into his pocket, he said, "Ah, see? No problem."

He stood up and looked to Haymitch, who said, "What the hell is that?"

The Doctor looked at his pocket and said, "Sonic screwdriver. That's all," and he quickly turned and dashed back to the screens as the noisy claw went back down the hole.

"Have we got someone?" Haymitch wanted to know, looking to the rebels.

"The claw's still lowering."

The Doctor could not seem to hear them as suddenly everything in time and space grew slow. Time was like that, all timey wimey; it was prone to do that. The Doctor did not note that fact, though, for he was too busy staring at the screens as incredulously as he had ever noticed something horrid in his life.

"No," he whispered. His voice was very quiet as his eyes took in the sight of Rose being lifted up by one of the Capitol's hovercrafts, her arms sticking out in a limp sort of way. No. No. He gripped the sides of the big screen center and said, "No, no, no, no, no, no, you can't. She can't. THEY CAN'T!"

He turned back to Haymitch and said, "They're taking Rose!" Taking big, purposeful steps, he hurried to Haymitch, yelling, "Get her back! Get her back from them! I need her, get her BACK!"

"Quiet, for ONE moment," Haymitch said, but the Doctor didn't seem to hear him as he yelled, "I need her back! You have to get her, or else I will never forgive myself, and neither will her mother."

"Hey, they have one of my boys, so SHUT IT!" Haymitch yelled. He turned around. "Anyone else?"

"No, sir. Chaff's cannon went off."

Haymitch sighed and said, "Roll it up and get us out of here before they send guns on us." He looked to the Doctor as the hole slowly filled up and said, "Come on. We both need a drink."

The Doctor looked back at Haymitch with wild, panicked eyes. He was not yelling, but he was shaking, and not looking like the brilliant, cocky Doctor that he had been with Haymitch and Effie. Even though he dared not tell anyone, he was terrified. For Rose and the fact that she was in the custody of the Capitol, and they could do whatever they wanted with her. Anything.

"Come on. We have a change of plans to discuss," said Haymitch, sounding rather gruff and annoyed as he turned and followed the path of rebels and gurneys.

He did not feel anything, right there, but pain. And lose. It reminded him somewhat of the Time War where his enemy was taking his people, and there nothing he could do to stop them. He did, after a while, committed a genocide in the process. But right then as he quickly turned back to the screens, and looked at the jungle spot where she had laid, the blood splat where her shoulder had been, he felt pain. Cold, consuming, saddening pain. The Capitol had just taken away his companion, the one person in his life that liked him, loved him and actually cared for him. They took her away.

They had Peeta, and Johanna, and now Rose. This was getting personal, though it was impersonal. He bent and sighed quietly. A moment later, he straightened and hurried off to Haymitch, ready to help, with his screwdriver, to defeat the Capitol. To get Rose back. To her back with him and safe.

* * *

The Doctor was leaning against the side of the hovercraft. He had just been in a meeting with Haymitch and Plutarch and Finnick, who was awake and weakly arguing. They were all tired and Haymitch and Finnick had tempers. They had been talking about what districts had been rebelling, and usually the Doctor was interested in exciting news like that, but they had been both very loud, and the Doctor could have sworn that Finnick had his eyes filled with tears as he argued.

So he left, and he was leaning against the wall next to the door that led into the heated room.

He heard a noise to his left and turned his head, lolling it to the side, looking at who was coming toward him with sad blue eyes.

"Who are you?" said Katniss, wearing a nightgown and a bandaged arm, looking alarmed. Her straggled hair made her look more frightening than she was.

The Doctor shrugged, his hands in his pockets. He looked ahead of him and said, "The Doctor."

"'The Doctor?'" Katniss said incredulously. "You don't look like a Capitol doctor."

"I'm not," said the Doctor. He looked back to Katniss and narrowing his eyes, said, "Don't you know where you are?"

She shook her head. "I think a hovercraft. That's all I know."

"Welllllll, then, Miss Katniss Everdeen, there's a lot of information you missed out on, huh?" the Doctor said, cracking a very soft smile.

She looked at him, confused, as he said, "We're in a rebel hovercraft."

"Rebel?" Katniss said. "From District Thirteen."

"Yeah, yeah, though Haymitch is here. I don't think he's from District Thirteen," the Doctor said.

"You know Haymitch?" Katniss asked.

"Yep," the Doctor said.

Katniss was silent for a moment before she said monotonically, "You're Rose's Doctor. The one she was talking about, the one who would rescue us from the arena."

The Doctor gulped at the mention of Rose's name. "That's me. Unfortunately."

"Where's Peeta?" Katniss asked, reaching clumsily to her bandaged arm. She fiddled with the bandage as she said, "Where do they have him?"

The Doctor cleared his throat and looking at Katniss in the eyes, he said quietly, "He's been taken."

"By the Capitol?" The Doctor couldn't but help how quick and direct she was.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "Along wit-with Johanna, Enobaria, and Rose."

"They took them all. Bu-but you were supposed to save us all? Haymitch planned all this? He promised me he'd help Peeta out this time! He was supposed to save him, not me!" and Katniss, eyes wide, fell to the ground, her brawny legs breaking out from beneath her.

The Doctor rushed to her, squatting to her side and helping her keep upright.

"Katniss, Katniss, Katniss, you need to calm down. There-there's nothing we can do right now. We just need to see what Haymitch has planned," the Doctor said quietly, patting her on the shoulder.

"Why?" she said, almost coldly, her voice brutally calm. "He was the one who didn't get Peeta. That was the plan then. Why should we follow his plan now?"

"Because you and I don't have a plan at all," the Doctor said quietly.

"Rose said you had a plan, to rescue us. You didn't rescue us all!" Katniss looked liked she wanted to very much tear at the Doctor.

"I know, I know. She said I did, but I was just going along with Haymitch and Plutarch's plan, to see if it worked. It didn't, and I'm sorry," the Doctor said, his voice sounding a bit choked.

"She believed in you," Katniss said. "Peeta believed I would save him no matter what, and Rose believed you'd come."

The Doctor dipped his head down.

"We both failed," Katniss said bitterly, looking at the ground.

"I know," the Doctor said quietly.

"We need them back," she said quietly.

"Katniss," the Doctor said, his voice quiet, "I promise that I will do whatever I can to help you get Peeta back." He knew the pain she was feeling. The inconsolable pain of having someone you love taken away from you, to be tortured or worse, and there was nothing either could do about it. He wanted to take away her pain as much as he wanted to take away his own.

"There's nothing you can do," Katniss spat.

"Something will come up. Nothing yet, but there'll be something, Katniss, and together, we'll save them both," the Doctor told her.

Katniss looked up to him and said quietly, after a moment, "They're not going to die."

"We won't let them," the Doctor said, giving her a very tiny, consoling smile. He held out his hand, and she took it, and he helped her stand up. She was unsteady and not in control of her limbs due to her being out of it.

She gave him a grim look and walked into the room with Haymitch, Plutarch and Finnick. The Doctor resumed his position against the wall and closed his eyes to push out the sound of an angry Katniss yelling at Haymitch.

**ROSE. NO. ANGST. YEP. Good night all, and thanks for reading!**


	7. Torture

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Doctor Who or the Hunger Games. Hey, look, I'm updating on a Sunday for once! :)**

Rose was sitting in her cell, looking at the ground. Her blonde hair was not put up but was hanging straight, nearly covering her face. Surprisingly, even though she lived in a cell, she was clean. The Capitol at least let its prisoners have access to a bathroom under supervision.

She grimaced and covered her ears with her hands when she heard the screaming. The constant screaming. It was that time of day again. Johanna had originally put up a fight with her sarcastic words and unwillingness to go with the Peacekeepers to her torture every morning. She had long since stopped.

Rose didn't know which torture room Peeta was in. She knew that Johanna was just a few yards away in her bared cell, head freshly shaven and covered with bruises and cuts. She only knew that Peeta had his cell where he shook and pulled at his hair every night. She had asked him what they did to him. He only said something about needles and chairs and straps and how Katniss was bad and something about redheads. Rose didn't know about redheads, and so Johanna had to explain that there was two servants there that were tortured in front of him. Rose nearly threw up her meager prison meal at her descriptions of what they probably did to them.

Trying to tell him that Katniss wasn't bad at all didn't help him. It only made him yell at her, making the Peacekeepers hit them both with syringes.

She sighed when she heard the Peacekeepers coming to her cell. To take her to interrogation once more. To take her to her personal hell.

"Out, come on," said a cold female voice.

Rose stood up slowly, wiping briefly at her nose before turning her head to face the Peacekeepers, her face grim and cold.

"Come on. Hurry up," the Peacekeeper said, and Rose slowly walked to her cell door and into the Peacekeepers' grasp. They secured handcuffs on her hands and surrounded her as they walked her past Peeta's cell, which was across from her, and Johanna's cell, which was right next to hers. Rose couldn't help but wonder if the best torture for them would have been solitary confinement but kept her mouth shut about it as she walked into a stark white room.

She knew the room well. Having been here for weeks, she knew every inch of the room, from the blindingly shiny tiles to the popping white ceiling to the reflecting walls. The walls all had mirrors. Rose was sure that they were one-sided.

She gulped as they sat her in a white chair. A ring, almost like an oversized crown, was put around her head. She gulped again. It was there to send her brain waves of pain if they didn't like her answers.

Hadn't she told them she had no idea there was a rebellion going on? Couldn't they figure out that she had nothing on that part? That was only half of what they wanted to know from her, and they weren't getting any other information about the thing they really wanted from her.

They wanted to know who the Doctor was.

They thought that he was from District 13, and he and Rose were part of the rebellion, helping Katniss's friend Haymitch and someone named Plutarch Heavensbee. Rose had once screamed that she had never even heard of his name before. They had sent her a volt at that.

She had mentioned the Doctor plenty in her time in the arena. The Capitol had been angry, first off, that she had managed to find her way into the arena, and had punished her significantly by planting her in a maze that she had to find her way out of. She had been stuck in it for ten days before she opened a door to see that Peacekeepers were to lead her to her current cell. That had been the first time that she had seen Johanna and Peeta since they got captured. She hadn't seen Enobaria at all since the hovercraft.

Now they sat her on her chair, hands cuffed and her head with a ring around it. She stayed calm, though, for she knew that the Doctor would want her to not do anything too irrational. Of course, she would have to do something fast and risky, for that was something that she and the Doctor did toward the end, but in the meantime, she would just have to wait to see how long they would take to try to break her for information she didn't have.

She turned when she saw someone come through the door, her guard Peacekeepers in each corner. It was the usual interrogator. It was a young woman with white hair that fluffed all over her head. Her pursed lips were dotted with jewels as she stood in front of Rose, her hand holding a pen and a clipboard.

"Miss Tyler, shall we begin with our usual?" she asked, raising an ugly eyebrow.

"If you want," Rose said with a shrug.

"Miss Tyler, you do realize that you have committed crimes to the Capitol by ruining the yearly pageant, the Hunger Games?" the woman said.

"Of course I do. I didn't mean to, but I know I did," Rose said.

The woman, whose name was Dantel, sniffed and wrote down on her clipboard, mumbling under her breath, "'Once again talks back.'"

"I can hear you," Rose said.

The woman pushed a button a remote that was sitting on top of her clipboard, and a wave of pain traveled through Rose's head, making her hands clench into fists as she squeezed her eyes together and let out a strangled cry.

The woman looked up from her clipboard as the pain stopped, and Rose grew a bit limp as she breathed heavily.

"Now, Miss Tyler, what have you to tell us about this Doctor that you mentioned in the arena. Are you two together in a plot with District Thirteen?" Dantel asked.

Rose had heard this question a few dozen times and her answer, like always, was a quick, "I have nothing because I know nothing. The Doctor and I aren't from District Thirteen."

They had thought, after a few days of getting her back from the maze, that the Doctor had been a figment of Rose's imagination, but they had dug into her memories and found evidence of fantastical things she and the Doctor had done. They had been grim but happy at the findings. Rose spent nights wondering what they were doing with her memories.

"You are lying, Rose Tyler," Dantel spat. "You are from District Thirteen, where they have several different things from the Capitol, the things in your memories. Now, tell us, who is the Doctor!?"

Rose couldn't help but smile. Even from her memories, they couldn't piece who the Doctor was together. She could herself tell who he was (somewhat, anyway), but they didn't know.

"Why would you think I would tell you? Because you can inflict pain on me?" Rose asked Dantel. "The things I did with the Doctor were more painful than anything you could hurt me with. You can't hurt me anymore than I've already been hurt."

Dantel's pursed lips quirked into a smile as she said in a cold voice, "Shall we try to destroy that theory, Miss Tyler?"

Rose didn't speak as the button was pushed once more, and she let out a scream that tore at her and nearly broke the one-sided mirrors. The pain ripped through her, but she wouldn't speak. She wouldn't. She wouldn't let herself.

The pain stopped, but didn't subside. She let out a gasp before everything around her went black.

* * *

"You should really try doing the things on your schedule some time," the Doctor said quietly, flipping around his sonic screwdriver, which he had wittily been able to persuade President Coin let him keep. "It could help you."

Katniss looked up, startled, from her hiding spot. He was looking down at her with sad eyes as he said, "Or, you know, you could continue ignoring them."

"I don't need to do them," she said, and she looked down and put her head on her folded arms, which were holding her knees to her. "They say having a schedule helps with everything in District Thirteen but it hasn't helped me yet. Why bother?"

"You could get one of those communicuffs, like Gale has," the Doctor said. "Brilliant piece of technology. The sonic screwdriver of your day."

"Maybe," Katniss replied, not bothering to understand what he meant by 'the sonic screwdriver of your day.'

"Heading out soon?" he asked her. Katniss had demanded to go visit her home back in District 12. She was going today.

"Yeah," she said. "See ya."

"See you later, Katniss Everdeen," the Doctor said as he watched the teen walk toward the hovercraft containment.

* * *

_A couple of hours later._

"How was District Twelve?" the Doctor said quietly, pocketing his screwdriver.

"It looked decimated," Katniss said as she stood up to look the Doctor straight in the eye. While she was sympathetic to the Doctor's case with Rose, she was still not a very friendly person, the Doctor knew, and she was annoyed that the Doctor got to keep his regular clothes, including his leather jacket, while she had to wear the regulated clothes like everyone else.

"Bombs can do that to a place," he said quietly. They were outside of Katniss's living space, and she had just stepped out, leaving her mother and sister and her friend Gale Hawthorne in with her cat.

"Don't say that," Katniss said to him. She scowled as she added, "It's not like you've seen your home burn."

The Doctor remained quiet for a moment before he said slowly, "I have. My entire home and everyone there burned."

"They did?" Katniss asked slowly.

"Every one of them," the Doctor said quietly. "I was the only one who escaped."

"Where are you from?" Katniss asked.

The Doctor had never told her, and he didn't want to. Not when there was so much stress for both of them. "From far, far away," he said quietly. "So very far away, Katniss."

From behind them, they could hear a set of footsteps. The Doctor and Katniss shared a look before they turned to see Gale, who the Doctor came to know through his work in with President Coin.

"Doctor, Katniss, it's six-thirty," Gale said.

"Dinner hall," Katniss said, and she said to the Doctor, "want to join us?"

"Don't see why not," he said, and the three walked along the shiny hallways toward the dining hall to their dismal supper of goopy vegetables, dry bread and thick stew.

On their way, Gale's communicuff, a device was attached to his wrist like a thick band of an electronic bracelet, let off a beep, and Gale stopped to look at it.

"They need the three of us at command," he said, looking up to Katniss and the Doctor, who exchanged glances.

"Let's get going then," the Doctor said, and he took long strides as he added, "don't want to keep the President waiting."

The three of them headed to command, where everyone was incredibly busy. There was a great number of buttons and levers on panels that none of them were allowed to touch, except the Doctor, and he could only do so when Coin, who barely spoke, allowed him to.

The room was filled with District 13 soldiers and a few Capitol rebels, like Fluvia Cardew, who was personal assistant to Plutarch, who was adjusting something at the TV screen, which the Doctor noticed to be the thing that everyone was looking at.

He frowned slightly as he stayed toward the back, leaning against one of the walls. Katniss and Gale moved forward when Plutarch waved to them.

The screen flickered and suddenly two faces showed up on the screen. The Doctor showed a little interest at this. All they ever had to see on the TV was Capitol propaganda that was stupid and meaningless. The Doctor didn't pay attention to the man who was talking to the camera, though, but the person sitting near him. Peeta Mellark.

"The picture of health," the Doctor murmured to himself, instantly becoming suspicious as he watched the interview go on. Peeta showed himself to be perfectly fine, though a bit shaky, as he talked with Caesar. The Doctor barely paid attention to his words. Why did he look perfectly fine? He was in enemy hands, his girlfriend had blown up the arena and yet he looked healthier than the day he was born. It was curious, to say the least, and the Doctor was not fooled by his image.

What were they doing to him? Was it psychological, or was this pre-recorded? The Doctor knew that they wanted information on the rebellion, and what better way than to make Peeta tell him? Thing was, he didn't have any information. Haymitch had told the Doctor that both Katniss and Peeta had been left out of the loop.

This was bound to be pre-recorded. What else? He was probably tied up in a cell right now, having no information and being tortured for not knowing something.

The Doctor turned his attention from Peeta's physical appearance to the fact that he was calling for a cease-fire. He wanted the Capitol troops and the districts to stop before they killed everyone.

The Doctor shook his head, knowing that would never work. The TV screen went blank and the people of District 13 made their opinion known, calling out things like "Traitor" and "Liar" and why they should listen to him?

He gulped and watched as Katniss ran to the door. Boggs went to stop her, for Coin, standing tall, wanted to talk to her, but she made her way out. Gale went toward her, and he ended up getting elbowed in the nose.

"Need a handkerchief, Gale?" the Doctor said, taking quick strides over to the teen.

"Nah. I gotta find Katniss," he said, and he and the Doctor watched as Boggs detached the communicuff from Gale's wrist.

"Oh, you don't have to do that. He earned it. He was trying to get to Katniss, and you're punishing him for it?" the Doctor protested as Boggs handed the device to another soldier. "Oh, that's just wrong right there. See here, give it back."

"He was blocking a soldier, Doctor, specifically me," Boggs said. He turned to Gale and said, "You can go." Gale nodded, looking grim as he hurried after Katniss.

"Mild little scuffle. He's the one with the bleeding nose, mind you," the Doctor said.

"Doctor," a cool voice said.

The Doctor looked up and Boggs turned to see Coin looking at them.

"Is there a problem, Captain Boggs?" Coin said crisply.

"The Doctor was just wondering why Solder Hawthorne's communicuff was revoked," Boggs told her.

"You have a problem with the decisions I make, Doctor?" Coin asked him, turning her cold grey eyes over to the Time Lord.

"No, not at all. Well, now, well, I guess. Why take the communicuff from him? It's just going to be harder to communicate with him now," the Doctor said.

"So you are questioning my choices in how I handle with rough and tumble soldiers? Is that what you are saying, Doctor?" Coin wanted to know.

The Doctor moved his head side to side, saying, "Well, putting it that way, yes."

"Word of advice, Doctor. Don't do that," Coin said.

"Why? Have to roll with the rules of District Thirteen, then?"

"Do so or you will no longer be helping with the technics of Districts Thirteen," Coin said.

"All right then. Whatever you say, President Coin," and the Doctor gave her a quick grin before it disappeared into a frown.

"What have you to say about the interview?" Coin nodded toward the screen.

"Oh, you're wondering my opinion? That's new, coming from you," the Doctor said as he walked over to Coin, who was looking down at a small screen on one of the panels. On it it had Peeta yelling, though his voice was muted.

"He's calling for a cease-fire, which sounds like something that Snow must have planted in him," Coin said.

"Yeah, but what about him? He's looks perfect. Even better than me," the Doctor said, pointing to the screen. It wasn't helping the Time Lord that he had bags under his own eyes now. "You'd think that he would have at least one bruise or something."

"Doctor, pay attention," Coin said.

"Look at him. Really look at him. He looks like he's being treated like a prince. There was actually a prince, Prince Akhksd, from the Planet of Yoknog, who resembles him somewhat."

"I have no idea what foolery you're talking about, Doctor, but I suggest you stop it," said Coin, a note of danger in her voice.

"You were asking my opinion. I'm just telling you it," the Doctor said, shrugging.

"Of his words, Doctor, not his appearance," Coin said before her eyes darted back down to the screen.

"His words? Oh, pre-recorded, definitely," the Doctor said. Coin looked up at him as he cleared his throat and said, "Yes, absolutely. This could be weeks old. Heard to tell, though. Have you a fairly recent photo? One of him before he entered the arena?"

"Doctor!" Coin said sharply.

"Yes?"

"You are obviously not taking this interview seriously. It is appointed directly at us here in Thirteen, and you're not taking it seriously. Go have dinner and then report to your work with Beetee, Soldier Doctor."

Soldier was appointed to the name of everyone above the age of fourteen. It was one of the top words that the Doctor loathed more than any of the others in all of the world. He looked at Coin now with a cold expression, and said, "Of course, President."

He turned and hurried out of command, and stumbled as he slammed into the wall opposite the door. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes as his hands scratches at the wall. He slid did a bit, breathing fast. He wasn't a soldier, was he? He was not a soldier. He wouldn't be. A soldier destroyed. He had destroyed.

He was a soldier.

He didn't want to be. He gritted his teeth as he straightened, putting his hands to the sides of his head. He bent and said quietly, "I don't want to be. I'm not a soldier. I killed, I killed, but I'm not a soldier!"

He seethed and bent down farther, his head choking with the thoughts of killing again, feeling the pain and the guilt again. He didn't want that. He didn't want that at all.

He needed someone to help take his pain. He needed his companion.

"Oh, Rose. I'm so sorry," he whispered.

* * *

The next morning, the Doctor was silent as he helped Beetee organize several little shiny pieces of metal into containers. People here in District 13 liked things clean and organized. The Doctor was more of a messy person, but he followed his orders to help Beetee, and Beetee, having seen his distracted figure, had given him a fairly simple job.

He worked silently as his long fingers easily put the parts in their right place. He was good with things like this, these pieces. He fingled and fanangled with the TARDIS on a regular basis. His heart wasn't in it, though. He was thinking. Why had the TARDIS brought him and Rose here? So far they had both viewed things neither of them wanted to and she was kidnapped by the enemy and he was stuck under the ground sorting out metallic pieces for a TV hacker, not something he was happy with. Beetee assured him they were for the Capitol, but he was not happy about them at all.

He looked up when he heard a voice calling his name.

"Gale?" he said incredulously, as the teen came hurrying up to him.

"Hey. Look, I should be in Nuke History, but I wanted to tell you something," Gale said breathlessly.

The Doctor dropped his job and straightened. "What?"

"Katniss has decided to be the Mockingjay," Gale said.

"How'd you get in here?" Beetee wanted to know, knowing that only those with clear access could make their way into his protected lab.

"I have news from Katniss. She's going to be the Mockingjay. She's going to go tell Coin," Gale said, ignoring Beetee, looking to the Doctor.

"Let's not wait then," the Doctor said, and he hurried after Gale out of Beetee's lab.

"She said she's going to ask Coin to grant a few of her requests," Gale told him.

"Bribery of sorts, then?" the Doctor asked.

"I guess," Gale said. "I had to go to history, but decided against it. Katniss wanted me. Just thought you would want to know, Doctor."

"Thank you, Gale Hawthorne. You've been invaluable," the Doctor said appreciatively, deliberating taking out the 'soldier' part of his name.

Gale nodded, not having had noticed, and hurried into command. The Doctor cleared his throat and quickly caught the closing door and headed in after him.

Several soldiers looked up from their duties and noticed him. Two, holding guns, hurried to him.

"What are you doing here?" one asked the Doctor.

"I'm here for the announcement," the Doctor said simply.

"There is no announcement," the soldier told him.

The door behind the Doctor opened, and the Doctor pointed behind him, saying, "Well, there she is. Right here with the news, fantastic news." He gulped and said, "It is Katniss behind me, isn't it?"

"Yes," the soldier said gruffly.

The Doctor smiled and said, turning, "Brilliant! Hello, Katniss, can't wait for the news."

She raised an eyebrow and he leaned down and said, "Gale told me."

"Okay," she said quietly, and she went and the Doctor backed off as she announced that she had decided to take the position of being the Mockingjay. The mockingjay, the Doctor had learned, was a bird that was a combination of jabberjays and mockingbirds, and she had a pin with a mockingjay on it. It was a symbol to the nation now, because of Katniss. Plutarch had explained that he wanted Katniss to take the position as the Mockingjay, the symbol of the rebellion. The thing that kept everyone going.

Coin listened to her and she was given paper and pen. Everyone stood around near the panels as Katniss began to slowly write on the list. She wrote a few words and then stopped, chewing on the end of her pen.

The Doctor, his hands in his pockets, slowly meandered toward her, keeping his eyes on the back of her head. He just wanted to see what she wanted. What things she wanted most. He was fairly certain, without even asking her, that she wanted Peeta back. Safe and sound.

She started when she saw him, but kept her troubled eyes on the paper.

"Doctor," she said quietly.

"Katniss," the Doctor said, and when she didn't tell him to go away, he quickly read the piece of paper. "Sounds reasonable. I'm sure Coin can get him back for you."

"And Enobaria and Johanna?" Katniss said, and she quickly added seven more letters: and Rose.

The Doctor looked to her shielded face immediately and she said, "No point in arguing, Doctor. She's going to get out too."

The Doctor looked at her for a long moment, knowing that she already thought she was pushing it with including Peeta on her list of demands.

"Thank you," he whispered quietly.

Katniss nodded and he watched as she was called to show her list.

Everyone was loud and vocal about her demands, arguing over her cat coming and going, her demand to go hunting with Gale, and her demand to save Peeta, Rose, Johanna and Enobaria, giving them all immunity from being trialed. The Doctor watched silently, and finally smiled slowly when Coin agreed to her demands.

Katniss asked for one more. She wanted to kill Snow.

"When the time comes, I'll flip you for it," Coin said, and the Doctor decided he didn't care about Snow's death. He was like a Dalek, almost. Wanting to be supreme ruler, having everyone do his bidding. Sure, he wasn't trying to make all of the humans pure humans or anything like that. The Doctor knew that if he could, he would give Snow a chance to redeem himself. But if he was decided to die instead, it was his death. Katniss would be satisfied.

After that, the Doctor eagerly hurried up to Plutarch and Fulvia as they went and hurried to Katniss and Gale.

"Hello, Plutarch. Mind if I help you?" the Doctor asked him brightly.

"Oh, Doctor. I think we're fine. Don't need your help, Fulvia and I have-"

"I want the Doctor to help," Katniss said.

They all looked at her, surprised. She gulped as Plutarch said, "Katniss, the Doctor is neither authorized to leave his work with Beetee nor did President Coin say he could join us-"

"Oh, I bet Beetee is going to be just fine without me. Believe me, he's got this whole thing worked out. He'll be fine for a couple of hours. No need to worry about him," the Doctor said.

"He's fine, Plutarch," Gale said. The Doctor nodded and Fulvia, pursing her lips, handed a sketchbook to Katniss.

"Well, fine, I suppose," said Plutarch. "Just for a little while, though, Doctor."

"A little while's all I need," grinned the Doctor, and he and Gale looked over Katniss's shoulder as she opened the sketchbook. The Doctor nodded at seeing the pages, which were filled with skillfully designed outfits, all outfitted for war.

"These are beauts," the Doctor said, pointing a finger at a piece of body armor. "Brilliant design. Might not keep out a Dalek but it looks beautiful."

"Cinna," Katniss said.

"All of them," said Plutarch.

"Sorry. Who's Cinna?" asked the Doctor.

"My old stylist for the Hunger Games," Katniss said. She looked back down at the paper and said quietly, "He's dead now. They killed him."

"Oh. I'm sorry," the Doctor said.

Katniss nodded and Plutarch said, "He made me promise not to show you this book until you decided to be the Mockingjay on your own. Believe me, I was very tempted. Go on. Flip through."

"When did he . . ." Katniss said slowly.

"Let's see. Well, after the Quarter Quell announcement. A few weeks before the Games, maybe? These are not only sketches. We have your uniforms," Plutarch told her excitedly.

"Oh, that's convenient. We won't have to wait to see you all dressed up. Eh, Katniss?" the Doctor said, a tad of sarcasm in his voice.

Plutarch ignored the Doctor as he explained to Katniss, with Fulvia's help, that they were going to shoot something called a propo with her in them. They would be aired on the TV for all of Panem to see.

"How? The Capitol has the sole control of the broadcasts," Gale pointed out.

"But we have Beetee," Plutarch said. "About ten years ago, he essentially redesigned the underground network that transmits all of the programming. He thinks there's a reasonable chance it can be done."

"So he's not working on the top secret weapony thingie, then?" the Doctor asked Plutarch teasingly, for that was what command had called it.

"Not at the moment, Doctor," Plutarch said quickly, a bit annoyed that the Doctor brought up the top secret weapony thingie.

"Oh, that's brilliant," the Doctor said excitedly.

He was in a cheerful mood as Plutarch led him, Katniss, Fulvia and Gale down the hall out of command to the elevator. He was the first out of the elevator and hurried into the white corridors. He was not sure what they were doing, but he was excited about doing it.

"Oh, look at these colors! Not all things in District Thirteen are grey and down, are they? Oh, white and red, I love those colors," the Doctor said as the rest of the group filed out of the elevator.

That was when a guard appeared out of one of the doors that led into rooms along the corridors, and he looked at the Doctor with a grim expression as he held his weapon threateningly.

"Hey! No need for guns. We're not threatening, solemnly swear. Well, though, technically I can be threatening to some people, but I'm not threatening you!" the Doctor said, putting his hands in his pockets. "After all, you're the ones with the gun."

Gale and Katniss looked worried and the Doctor no longer smiled as he turned to see Plutarch say brightly, "Good morning, we were just looking for-"

"You have the wrong floor," said the guard.

"Really?" Plutarch said, looking at his notes. The Doctor peered over his shoulder and said, "No, we're on the right floor."

"You have the wrong floor," the guard said quickly.

"I've got Three-Nine-Oh-Eight written right here. I wonder if you could just give a call up to-" Plutarch said.

"I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave now," the guard told them.

"Why?" the Doctor wanted to know. "Tell us."

"Assignment discrepancies can be addressed at the Head Office," the guard said.

"Where is that again?" Fulvia asked.

"You'll find the Head Office on Level Seven," the guard said.

The Doctor frowned and looked beyond the guard and he heard a whimper coming from behind one of the doors. He furrowed his eyebrows and he heard a bang right next to him. He looked down to see that Katniss had dropped her sketchbook. Gale went to pick it up, saying to the guard lightly, "Oh, I'm sorry," and the Doctor saw Katniss running toward the whimpering door.

She pushed open the door and the guard instantly noticed her and hurried after her. The Doctor ran toward the door as Gale, Plutarch and Fulvia brought up the rear.

Gale instantly wrinkled his nose as he entered the room and Fulvia said, "What's that stink?"

"Antiseptic. There's bodies in here," the Doctor said, and he turned and saw Katniss kneeling in front of three people, all looking like they were once brightly colored but were now battered and mistreated.

"What happened here?" the Doctor demanded to know, looking quickly from the people to the guard, anger flashing in his eyes. "Why are they being treated like this?"

"Why?" Katniss asked hotly as she examined the wrists of the three people.

"Who are they and what have they done?" the Doctor demanded. He was not in a position to have everything told to him, but he was in an angry mood, and so Plutarch said over the guard's voice that was telling them to get out, "These people are Katniss's prep team."

"They have names," Katniss said. "Venia, Octavia and Flavius."

"Yes, yes. Octavia, Flavius, Venia, what happened to them? Who authorized this?" the Doctor said to the guard with a deadly glare.

"They are being held for stealing food. We had to restrain them after an altercation over some bread."

"No one would tell us everything," Venia said, looking to Katniss. "We were so hungry. It was only one slice she took."

"So they're being held like criminals who-who murdered somebody for taking a piece of bread that ONE of them took?" the Doctor asked. "Isn't that a bit much? Why not fine them or something? Why lock them up?"

"They've had scuffles like this before. They've been warned and this is their punishment," the guard said.

"This seems extreme," Plutarch said.

"I think we've pasted extreme," the Doctor said angrily.

"It's because they took a slice of bread?" asked Gale.

"Like I said, there were repeated infractions leading up to that. They were warned. Still they took more bread. You can't take bread," the guard said.

"Obviously," the Doctor said quietly, his hands in his pockets, his eyes looking around with a manner of disgust at the smells and looks of the holding cell.

"I'm bringing you to my mother," Katniss said to Octavia before she turned to the guard and said sharply, "unchain them."

"It's not authorized," the guard said, shaking his head.

"Unchain them! Now!" Katniss said even more sharply.

"I have no release orders. And you have no authority-" the guard started.

"Do it on my authority," cut in Plutarch. The Doctor paced around the room to relieve some of his steam as Plutarch continued, "We came to collect these three anyway. They're needed for Special Defenses. I'll take full authority."

Gale, Katniss and the guard settled to take the chains off of the prep team. The Doctor bent and took the sonic screwdriver to Octavia's cuffs, a hard look on his face. He stood up and backed away once they were done, and he followed the others as they went up the elevator to take the prep team to the hospital wing where Katniss's mother was to attend to them.

He sat next to Gale who sat next to Katniss on a bench outside of the hospital wing. Opposite them Plutarch and Fulvia sat on a bench. All were quiet, all too astonished and disgusted by what they had just seen.

The Doctor had seen many people in his life being mistreated, and it always disgusted him when people with power used it to bring misery upon people. It always disgusted him.

"I guess we've all been put on notice," Katniss said quietly after a while.

"What? No. What do you mean?" asked Fulvia.

"She's right," the Doctor said. "Make one wrong move and we're a step away from being her prep team."

"Punishing my team is a warning. Like the Doctor said. We all have to not get on Coin's bad side. Or else," Katniss said.

"We're better than that, Katniss. We're a major part of helping with the rebellion," Fulvia said confidently.

Gale scoffed. "Said the ex-Capitol citizen."

"Perhaps we're a little more necessary to the war effort than you give us credit for," said Plutarch.

"You're more important to Coin than Katniss is to the war effort?" the Doctor asked Plutarch. "You honestly think that?"

"Yes," Plutarch said slowly.

"Of course you are. The tributes were necessary to the Games, too. Until they weren't," Katniss said quickly. "And then we were very disposable - right, Plutarch?"

* * *

After a while, Mrs. Everdeen came in and told them that there was no permanent damage on them but they would need to rest in the hospital wing for the rest of the day. In the meantime, without Katniss's prep team, no propos could be shot, and they were to head out into the rest of District 13 to do what they pleased.

The Doctor headed back to Beetee's lab, his eyes and spirit down as he organized pieces of metal for Beetee.

After an hour or so without a clever quip or fascinating comment about a discovery from the Doctor, Beetee looked up from his desk and said, "You doing all right, Doctor?"

The Doctor shrugged. "I'll be okay."

Beetee nodded and turned back to his work.

The Doctor sighed. Rose would have been like Katniss, bending down to see that the prep team was all right, demanding their release. He gulped and hoped that she was alive there in the Capitol, and if she was being tortured that she would break and tell them everything she knew. If they wanted to hear about the rebellion, she had nothing to hide. If they wanted to know about him, he would never forgive himself if she allowed herself to be tortured.

He cleared his throat and whispered to himself, "I'm always okay."

* * *

At six o'clock, the Doctor bid goodbye to Beetee and his hands in his pockets, headed down to the Collective, a giant room where everyone in District 13 were to go to hear the deal that Katniss struck with President Coin. All around him were people heading to the same place he was, all staring at him. He stood out, wearing a leather jacket and bearing an authoritative air. He was not from the Capitol nor from District 12 or 13. He was a mystery to everyone around him.

He stayed toward the back of the Collective. He didn't want to be up there when he was perfectly able to hear the announcement from the back. He saw Katniss dart from Finnick, who was tagged as emotionally unstable, to Coin and tell her something. He was left wondering what she had asked her about until Coin took the stage and read aloud the deal that Katniss made her with her.

He kept quiet but inwardly felt his heart leap when he heard Rose's name amongst the names of the people who would be exonerated. Oh, he was so glad for her. If she was even still alive. Who knew? The Capitol had already proved itself to be an emotionless killer.

Once Coin was done speaking, everyone started to disperse. The Doctor hurried over to Katniss, who was heading out to supper.

"Hey," he said, stopping her in the hallway. "Thanks for saving Rose for me. I know that she wasn't supposed to be there, and she's-"

"It's fine, Doctor," Katniss said. "Don't apologize for your friend."

The Doctor smiled at her. "Thanks anyway."

"You're welcome."

* * *

It was early morning and Rose was wondering what day it was. She was lying on her cot in her cell, shivering despite her blanket. Everything about the cell screamed of chilliness and cold and no emotions. No guilt about what was being done to them.

She heard a creak of a door, and Rose sat up to see Johanna being led into her cell. The Peacekeepers slammed the doors and then walked away. Even in the darkness, Rose could tell that Johanna was shivering. Probably from the water they splashed at her. Afterwards, she would get electrocuted. Her body was covered in burns and bruises. That was one of the first things that they told each other when the Peacekeepers left them all alone for the first time. Peeta was injected with tracker jacker venom and his memories were being twisted about. Rose and Johanna made a point to tell him this every chance they could, for he was losing his real memories everyday. He kept saying that Katniss was a mutt and she was a murderer and she was evil.

Rose and Johanna, of course, told him otherwise, and the guards outside never heard them, or else they would take his memories of the both of them and twist them about as well until he could recognize neither of them. Guards were stationed outside the big room that they all lived in. There was three cells in the dank room, and there was doors with guards outside of them.

Now Rose went to the edge of her cell, and whispered, "Johanna, how are you doing?"

"How's it look like I'm doing?" spat Johanna angrily, her wet hhead shiny in the dim light coming through one of the doors. "I haven't cracked yet, if that's what you're thinking."

"I never said that," Rose said.

"You were thinking it," Johanna said harshly.

"I was not," Rose said harshly back. "I was just wondering how you were doing. You've been tortured as much as I have, Johanna, and it hurts, and I was wondering if since you haven't cracked yet, they haven't been torturing you as hard!"

"Why would they do that?" Johanna spat.

"They'd do it because they might decide that maybe you DON'T have any information, Johanna," Rose said.

"They won't do that, Rose. They're the CAPITOL," Johanna spat. She leaned against her bed and said, "Are they loosening up on you, seeing as you don't actually have any information?"

"Not yet," Rose said.

"Why don't they just kill you then?" Johanna asked.

Rose gulped and said quietly, "Because of the Doctor."

"The Doctor," spat Johanna. "Wasn't he supposed to come and help us or something? Seems like your little imaginary friend didn't show up."

"He's real, Johanna, realer than you or I," Rose said in the Doctor's defense. "He's coming to get us out. He will."

"You keep telling yourself that then, princess, and keep getting yourself tortured," Johanna said.

Rose frowned in her direction, and they heard a moan coming from Peeta's cell. He was shivering on his bed, having another of his many nightmares that plagued him every night.

"Peeta, it isn't real," Rose said to him. He let out a cry and fell out of his small cot.

"Leave him. He can't hear you," Johanna said.

"He has nightmares, Johanna. They're torturing him even when he's not in that torture chamber!" Rose said, and she hurried over to the other side of the cell and said in a quick whisper, "Peeta, Peeta! Your nightmare is not real! Katniss is good! Peeta!"

"You're not helping him," Johanna told her.

Rose turned and threw her a dangerous look before she covered her eyes. A bright light was flooding through an open door, and the Head Peacekeeper was walking quickly in front of many Peacekeepers over to Peeta's cell.

Johanna hissed for Rose to get down, and Rose quickly sat down on her cot, her eyes never leaving Peeta's cell.

The Peacekeepers opened the door and hurried Peeta out, who was looking around frantically as to why he was being shoved out of his cell at so early in the morning.

"What, what are you doing?" he asked frantically. "You're not taking me to Katniss, are you?"

"Come with us, now," the Head Peacekeeper said, and the Peacekeepers started leading Peeta, who was handcuffed, out the door.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked them. When they would usually take Peeta to torture, he'd just get a couple of Peacekeepers around him, but most definitely not this amount or with the Head Peacekeeper. "Where are you taking him!?"

She was answered with the clanging sound of a closing door.

**LOOK AT ALL THE ANGST THERE IS. LOOK AT IT ALL. Hope the cells make sense to you all in design, and thank you for reading!**


	8. Bringing the Tributes Back

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Doctor Who or the Hunger Games. **

Over the past couple of weeks, the Doctor stuck around with Beetee, helping him out with the wires and doo-hickeys of hacking into the Capitol's broadcasting system. The sonic screwdriver was a big help, and Beetee was utterly fascinated with it.

"It's sonic?" Beetee said as he examined it closely, adjusting his glasses.

"Yep. A bit before your time, though," the Doctor said as he put on a pair of goggles. He had given up on helping with the propos himself because Plutarch, Fulvia and Gale proved themselves thoroughly capable of helping and filming. Besides, the Doctor clashed somewhat with Cressida, the director of the propos.

It had been a grave day when District 13 had heard of the hospital being blown up in District 8, but Katniss came back alive, though injured somewhat. The Doctor had talked to her the morning after she had come back from shooting propos out in District 12.

"Was it horrible, going back to your district again?" he asked her.

"I don't want to talk about it," Katniss told him irritably.

"Something there happen that we're not going to see on TV?" the Doctor asked her quietly, trying to help. "C'mon. You can tell me. You can trust me." He leaned forward and added, "I'm the Doctor."

Katniss fidgeted and said, "I kissed Gale."

"Oh," the Doctor said, not sure what else to say as he leaned back. He had found out that the romance between Katniss and Peeta had been made up for the cameras by Peeta himself. He had observed quietly in the background how she actually seemed like she was in love with Peeta even off-camera. He never mentioned anything, knowing her that her concussion made her emotionally unstable, and he certainly did not want to send her back to the hospital.

After a moment, he said, "Did you like it? You do like him, I'm sure. Fulvia thinks he's quite the looker."

"I'm not sure," Katniss sid.

"Not even a speck of a bit sure?"

Katniss shook her head.

"That's the thing about kisses and love and affection, Katniss. Sometimes you just don't know how to sort things out about them," the Doctor said. He looked away and said thoughtfully, "I know that from experience."

At lunch, Boggs hurried to the Doctor, who was examining his pea soup with his sonic screwdriver, a look of disgust on his face.

"You're wanted with Beetee. He needs your help with something," Boggs said.

"What? I just fixed the antenna fixture this morning. Doesn't it still work?"

"I think Cressida wants to air the Twelve propos. Beetee's having a problem with the signal."

"Oh, I can fix that," the Doctor said, and standing up and abandoning his nasty lunch, he hurried out of the lunchroom, leaving Boggs heading over to the Everdeen table.

He walked down the halls very fast and found Beetee in Command, in a little area off of the rest of it. He was sticking together some pieces of metal together, looking concentrated.

"You needed me, Beetee?" the Doctor asked, leaning on the table, looking about.

"Oh, Doctor. I need a boost in the signal. I think that your sonic screwdriver could intensify the signal-"

" . . . boosting the signal, and then it'll air, oh, brilliant, Beetee," the Doctor said, pulling out his sonic screwdriver. Beetee held up the antenna and the Doctor soniced it, saying excitedly, "Oh, brilliant Beetee, understanding the use of a sonic screwdriver before it's even invented."

"What does that mean?" Beetee asked, looking at the Doctor as the Time Lord pocketed his sonic screwdriver.

"Means that I speak to humans that don't understand what I'm saying," said the Doctor brightly.

"I'm not sure what you mean by that," Beetee said, looking confused.

"Not many humans do. Now, any more help needed?" the Doctor asked.

"I should be fine," Beetee said.

"Great. I'm going to go watch it on the big screen," the Doctor said, and he gave Beetee an appreciative pat on the shoulder before he hurried off.

He entered the main room of Command, which was full of Coin's men and other soldiers who were in training. The entire place was crowded, but he spotted Plutarch and Finnick with Katniss between them before the TV screen. The Doctor hurried over and Boggs stood behind them, and the Doctor raised an eyebrow when the only thing on the screen was Capitol footage, something about a commercial for powder that was cheap.

"What's this?" the Doctor asked. "Don't tell me we all have to buy powder now! I don't need it, the makeup these people wear. . ."

"What's going on? Aren't we seeing the Twelve propos?" Katniss wanted to know.

"Oh, no," said Plutarch. "I mean, possibly. I don't know exactly what footage Beetee plans to use."

After a moment, the Capitol seal appeared on the screen, accompanied with a bunch of music. A man with white hair, shrewd eyes and big lips appeared on the screen, and the Doctor, having seen plenty of Capitol programming, whispered in a dark and quiet tone, "President Snow."

The camera spanned out and Peeta became visible. He was sweating, tapping his prosthetic foot, and looking nervous. The Doctor frowned when he didn't see any of the other captured prisoners. Was Peeta the only one left? Were they showing him off, telling them that this was their only remaining precious tribute?

"He's worse," Katniss whispered.

The Doctor kept his frown as they watched Peeta once more call for a cease-fire, sounding anxious and nervous as he pointed out several places on the map where the districts were failing. The Doctor, knowing a thing or two about war and strategy, thought it quite stupid for President Snow to show off to District 13 how the other districts were faring. Wasn't it just helping them?

Suddenly, startling them all, an image of Katniss in front of an old, broken down building showed up on the screen. The Doctor grinned as Plutarch said in excitement, "He did it! Beetee broke in!"

Everyone became very excited when Peeta's face came back onto the screen, having obviously seen the part of the propo. He was startled, and becoming unraveled as he stumbled to start up his speech again.

That was when a war that the Doctor grew to love took place. It was an electronic war between just two opponents. Volts, the underestimated District 3 tribute, versus the Capitol's high tech panel of broadcasters. Different images passed along the screen and the Doctor couldn't help but grin to himself.

Everyone else was cheering excitedly. Plutarch was very excited as he clapped his hands, cheering on Beetee as the images pass by faster and faster, showing Katniss singing and Finnick talking and the broken images of the bombed District 12. The seal of the Capitol showed up after a moment followed by a few seconds of audio tune before it flipped back to Snow and Peeta. Snow began to talk as fast as he could in case Beetee broke in again.

"Oh, sending them in panic," the Doctor said.

The President asked Peeta if he had any parting words for Katniss Everdeen. Everyone became quiet at that, and the Doctor stopped grinning.

Peeta looked at the camera and said, "Katniss . . . how do you think this will end? What will be left? No one is safe. Not in the Capitol. Not in the districts. And you . . . in Thirteen . . . dead by morning!"

Snow shouted, "End it!" and Beetee threw out several images of Katniss standing in front of a bombed hospital. But the Capitol had control, and somehow, images from the Capitol showed up on the screen between the images of Katniss. Of Peeta trying to speak more. Of the camera that fell over.

The final thing they see before they switch over entirely to District 13 footage was Peeta on the ground, his cry in their ears and his blood on the floor.

The screen went black and everyone started to shout, to scream. The Doctor looked at the screen, stunned.

"No," he said. "'Dead by morning' . . . the Capitol is going to attack us!" He looked about Command and Coin was surrounded by her soldiers. He looked frantically to her and said, "Don't you get it? Peeta's warning us! 'Dead by morning!'" He looked over to Katniss, who looked like she was having a nervous breakdown without making a sound, and he bent over to her and said, "Katniss, Katniss, look! Peeta's saving us!"

"Yeah, and they're KILLING him!" Finnick yelled.

Ther Doctor looked about with cold eyes, and saw that everyone was still freaking out, and he yelled, "Calm down, the lot of you! Humany wumany humans, freaking out every time they hear something! We need to listen to him NOW and get out!"

No one seemed to hear him.

"Well, this is just sad," the Doctor said to himself.

Another voice, louder than his own, rang through the air.

"Shut up!" yelled Haymitch. Everyone looked to him and the Doctor said to himself, "Sure. Everyone listen to Haymitch."

"It's not some big mystery! The boy's telling us that we're about to be attacked. Here. In Thirteen."

That's when people start shouting again.

"How could he have that information?"

"Why should we trust him?"

"How do you know?"

"How do you know that he's not lying and he's warning us and being a semi-good decent person amongst all this chaos?" the Doctor called, looking to everyone for a reaction.

Haymitch nodded at the Doctor and growled as he said, "They're beating him bloody as we speak. What more do you need? Katniss, help me out here!"

Katniss gulped and controlled herself enough to say, "Haymitch's right. I don't know where Peeta got that information. Or if it's true. But he believes is it. And they're-" She gulped and shuddered.

"Thank you, Katniss," the Doctor said.

"Get your people ready, Coin," Haymitch said, looking to Coin, "because the Capitol's coming for us."

A Level 5 Security drill was called as the place was set on lock down. Everyone was to move to the lower levels of District 13, for there was bound to be bombs. The only thing that could get through the levels of District 13 they were on already.

Everyone shuffled out of Command only to come out into the halls to hear the pounding, loud, ear-piercing shrieks of the alarms of District 13. Everyone, for some reason, was quiet as they all hurried down. The Doctor kept calm, his hands in his pockets, when inside he was inwardly reeling about, trying to get a grip on reality. He knew that Peeta looked entirely different on this screen compared to the other screen. His theory of the other clip being pre-recorded was pretty much confirmed.

He didn't care about that now, though. He was too concerned about the way that Peeta did look this time. Shaking, sweating, nervous. What were they doing to him? They were definitely torturing him in some way. He couldn't tell by the clothes that he was wearing what injuries he had sustained but he could see it in his eyes. Pain, anger, concern, hate, anxious. They were doing something to him mentally, and it was killing him in the inside. The Doctor had been to enough planets to be able to recognize psychological torture.

If they were just doing that to Peeta, who knew absolutely nothing about the rebellion, he could only imagine what they were doing to Johanna. But what were they doing to Rose? She was not from their Capitol and she didn't seem to fit in as being from one of the districts. They probably thought that she was from District 13, and what were they doing to her now, wondering what information about the secret district they could get from her? What information they could get about him?

She knew that traveling with him was dangerous. She just never knew how dangerous to herself time traveling was.

She could be dead right now and he wouldn't even know it. He watched the ground as he walked, his eyes searching for something to look at, something to get his mind off of all the torture devices he had ever seen. The Capitol was malicious. He knew that from watching the Games. They would do anything and not feel a shred of guilt.

That angered him. That angered him a lot.

* * *

It was a late night. District 13 had been on lock down more than twenty-four hours. The bombs passed through, sending tremors through the place, but no one died. They stayed in their levels, though, just in case bombs came days later, without any warning from Peeta.

The Doctor was moved from helping Beetee to helping Coin's men at Command. Katniss and Gale went out with the crew to examine the ground above District 13 after talking with Finnick, who the Doctor had gotten to know. He was still shaken, but not that mentally disoriented. He used a technique to keep him calm, which was tying knots in ropes.

"Oh, the Count of Baronja from the Star Studded Cream Belt used to do that. Had a nervous tremor as well," the Doctor had said. Finnick just looked at him like he was the crazy one instead of him and nodded.

Plutarch had come down with the crew and the boys, saying that Katniss had a nervous breakdown about finding a few roses in the ruins.

"Roses?" the Doctor said, his head popping up to see Plutarch talking with Coin. "Roses? What kind of roses? Not my Rose, right? Probably not." He climbed over a piece of equipment and said, cocking his head, "Not something the Capitol would do, aye? Drop off their hostages all about the top of the district they're fighting? Be a bit stupid of them."

"Yeah, no Rose Tyler. There's something I want from you, though, President Coin," Plutarch said, turning to the president.

Coin looked cool as she said, "And what is that, Soldier Heavensbee?"

The Doctor frowned as Haymitch, stepping forward, said, "We need to go and get those prisoners."

"Impossible. We barely have enough resources as it is."

"We have to. We have people on the inside that can help. The kid is falling apart!"

"We try not to exert our fuel with our hovercrafts here in District Thirteen, Soldier Abernathy. I thought I told you that."

"What? Without Peeta you don't have Katniss and without Katniss, you don't have a Mockingjay, and without a Mockingjay, President Coin," the Doctor said seriously, his eyes staring at Coin, "you don't have a rebellion. I highly doubt you can beat the Capitol with everyone not working together."

President Coin looked at the Doctor, her expression cold. He held up his hands in innocence and backed away, saying, "Just my opinion. No need to listen to silly ol' Doctor." He smiled and said quickly, "But I'd recommend it."

Coin frowned and after a moment, turned to Haymitch and said, "Assemble a team. Head out tonight. I want them back here by midnight tomorrow or else."

Haymitch nodded and with that, a team was sent out on a hovercraft. Including Gale.

Haymitch and the Doctor watched the team head to the hovercrafts and Haymitch, sighing, said gruffly, "This better work."

"Oh, trust them now, Haymitch," the Doctor said, waving to the crew. He stuck his hands back into his pockets as he added, "Besides, they've got motivation. They should be able to get back our people."

Haymitch nodded and after a moment, said, "You excited to see your girl."

"My companion. Not my girl. Well, technically yes, but that's beside the point," the Doctor said quietly, cocking his head.

Late at night now, the Doctor was sitting patiently by one of the panels in the new Command. Most of the soldiers were gone, packed away for the night. Coin was gone, having to get some sleep. The Doctor, however, stayed with some guards. It seemed like the countless sleepless nights he had on the TARDIS had just been preparing him for the nights at District Thirteen. He could barely remember when he had more than three hours' of sleep at one time. He spent time worrying and thinking in his head instead.

He sat at the panel, one hand held the sonic screwdriver, and he was tracing one of the sticky-outy buttons with one of his thumbs, wearing a frown.

She was coming back. She was coming back, and she had to come back tomorrow. He had volunteered to go with the team, but he knew that Coin wouldn't allow it. Besides, Boggs was the one choosing the volunteers, and he and Haymitch had been rejected. The team had members with military training, and though he had had plenty of hands on military training, he didn't want to use it. Besides, Coin knew him as a smart man. She would have raised an eyebrow at the thought of him with a gun. He'd have to had been training to get her to notice him in that way.

So he sat in the dark, save for the flickering lights and screens and such. He had easily hacked into the computer's files, and had pulled up something from the 'Quarter Quell' one. It was a five minute video of Rose with Finnick and Katniss and Peeta and Johanna and Beetee on the beach. Beetee was fiddling with the wire and the others were all fishing and spearing in the ocean.

The Doctor allowed himself a smile as he watched. Rose was laughing and getting splashed by Johanna and Peeta while Finnick and Katniss popped up out of the water. He tried to forget that three of them were trapped in the clutches of a merciless government while the other two were very emotionally all over the place. Looking at them now, he never would have known that. This had only been about six weeks ago.

"Lot's has changed since then," the Doctor whispered. He stared at the screen, watching the tributes, and he whispered, "How are we going to bring you all back?"

* * *

Rose heard a very loud noise, and she woke up with a start. She didn't sit up, though, for she feared that the Peacekeepers were going to come back. A few hours ago, they had brought in Peeta, who was shaking and whimpering terribly, looking worse than he had ever been.

She had waited until the Peacekeepers disappeared before approaching him. He was dressed up for some reason, wearing a suit. His hair was ruffled, though, and several spots all over him were bleeding.

"Peeta!" Rose said. "What happened?"

"Kat-t-t-niss," he muttered under his breath. "B-b-b-bombs."

"Katniss isn't going to bomb you, Peeta," Johanna said from her cell. Rose shot her a look and saw that she had her thin pillow on top of her head, and she was trembling. Her harsh voice didn't betray her, though, for she said venomously, "She's not a mutt!"

"District Thirteen," Peeta said, and then he wrapped his head in his hands and shook next to his bed.

"Peeta, Peeta," Rose said as calmly as she could. She knew that he was on the verge of a mental breakdown. What kind of torture did they put him through now? They had used tracker jacker venom before, (Peeta had managed to tell them this before he went into hysterics). Why was he dressed so nicely? "Hey, calm down. District Thirteen is far away from here, and the only one who has information is Johanna."

"I'm not spilling," Johanna said, sitting up straight with a retort.

"I never said you were," Rose said, looking at her with an annoyed look. She looked quickly at Peeta before turning back to Johanna, whispering, "We need to calm him down. This is worse than before."

"Nothing you say is going to make him feel better," Johanna said. "That tracker jacker venom ruined him for good. He's gone. The Capitol destroyed him."

"He still has his sanity. He still knows there's a Katniss. There's a chance of bringing him back, Johanna," Rose said.

Johanna rolled her eyes and said, "And how are you supposed to calm him down? Make him feel better? Tell him everything will be all right? Tell him that-that we're going to get rescued? Lies, Rose Tyler. Lies."

Rose frowned as Johanna turned over her bed, facing away from Rose. Johanna was right, Rose knew. She was more of a realist than she was. Rose was more of a fanciful sort of person. She supposed traveling with the Doctor in a box that was bigger on the inside that could travel anywhere in time and space could do that to you.

And that was the thing. The Doctor could travel through time and space. He could stop armies, run through battles without a scratch, fix a ship before it crashed, settle arguments and still be back in time for tea in the TARDIS. He was just a fantastical being who could defy so many odds and rules of nature that Rose was sure that somehow, in some way, he'd make his way into the Capitol and snatch them all from Snow's hand.

She was getting a bit weary herself, of course. In six weeks she had been tortured, scarred and seen things she did not want to see. Still, each night, she'd stay awake as long as she could, waiting for the wheezing sound of the TARDIS beaming its way into the prison.

She knew that the Doctor hadn't forgotten. If he didn't want her to travel with him anymore, he'd drop her off at home, not leave her in the distance future of America. Of all places, America!

She was so sure that the Doctor would come picking them up that she looked up, startled, to see one of the prison doors open, revealing a squad of men. They were all dressed up in gray military uniforms. In each pair of hands was a gun.

That was when she became readily conscience of a sort of gas filling the room.

Rose immediately stood up, coughing and looking about as they hurried through the room. They surely weren't some sort of special Peacekeeper. She had already been taken to the Head Peacekeeper once for back talking and she knew that that was the highest ranking. Unless they hadn't bothered to let her see them, they weren't any sort of highly trained Capitol soldier.

"Get the prisoners. Hurry!" one said, and several went to each cell. Rose hurried to her door and one of the soldiers said, "Stand back!"

Rose listened and yelled hoarsely over the noise of guns shooting the locks, "Who are you? Are you from Thirteen? Have you seen the Doctor? Did-did he send you?"

"He's fine," one soldier said. Rose could see in the light pouring in from the door that he had short, dark hair and was a little grey as he opened the door and held out his hand.

"What's your name?" she asked him.

"Gale Hawthorne," he said, and she grabbed his hand weakly and he pulled her through the open door.

Rose nearly stumbled as she walked out.

"Can you walk?" Gale asked her.

Rose nodded quickly. The noise of gunshots and of Peeta and Johanna and another girl filled the air as the soldiers quickly exited through the exit door, shooting the Peacekeepers guarding the prison cells.

Someone said near her, "Where's Enobaria?"

"She's not with us!" Rose said. "We haven't seen her at all!"

"Get going. Now!" was the order, and a round of gunshots filled the air.

Rose breathed in and out as fast as she could as Gale hurried her to another soldier so that he could go up front to shoot at any Peacekeepers.

She could hear the sounds of Peeta resisting the soldiers. She turned to see Johanna being half-carried, half-dragged gently ahead. She was crying out with pain as she hissed at Peeta, "Shut up or you'll give us away!"

"Let me go!" Peeta pleaded weakly, his body filling with the gas. His weak body was no match for the soldiers, though, and he was hurried ahead, still begging angrily.

"Let me punch him. Please," Johanna said angrily, her voice husky. "If he's the one who makes this rescue plan fail, I swear-!"

"Shh!" Rose told her, and Johanna threw her a look.

Rose turned to another soldier with greyish hair and said quietly as alarms started to blare around them, "You're from Thirteen, then? Is the Doctor there? Is he safe?"

"We are from Thirteen. The Doctor is healthy," the soldier said automatically, and he reached out and helped Rose as she nearly stumbled. She hadn't run this fast since the maze, where she had been darting about, trying to find some way out of there. Despite the pain in her bones and the alarm and yells in her ears, Rose felt more excited than she had in weeks. She had been tired and she would be very tired when this was all over and the gas or whatnot was not helping. She was moving on pure adrenaline, and she was loving it.

"Oh, I missed this!" she said as they turned a corner, a headache pumping through her head, "all the running!"

There was a shout and several doors and stairs later, Rose followed soldiers onto a roof where a hovercraft was waiting. It was on and whirring as everyone hurried behind them. The sounds of more gunshots filled the air. A yell went out and Rose saw Gale Hawthorne clutch his shoulder as he hurried past her, telling her to hurry.

She hurried over and her hands went onto the ladder and she expected her hands to be pulled on but this was just a regular ol' ladder. Apparently things in 13 weren't exactly the same as the Capitol.

Her muscles protested as she made her way up the ladder but she ignored them as she went up. The last couple of rungs she was pulled up by another soldier and she coughed on the floor as the soldiers came up, bringing Johanna, a crazy-looking Peeta and a half-crazed-looking girl, who was crying in earnest.

Gale came up and Rose asked him, "Are you all right?"

"Shot nipped me," he said, and he hurried through the hovercraft, yelling, "get this ship out of here! Back to Thirteen!"

Rose coughed, and quickly took a very fast breath. And that's when she passed out.

* * *

The Doctor was working in Command, fingling with panels and buttons and levers that made Coin raise an eyebrow when Boggs hurried in. It was late, already midnight, and the team should be coming along any minute.

"They're here," Boggs said quickly, and all eyes were on him.

"Have they procured all the prisoners?" Coin said smoothly.

Boggs nodded. "Mason. Mellark. Tyler and Cresta."

The Doctor stood up immediately and said quietly, "They're all alive?"

"Yeah," and a tremendous grin covered the Doctor's face as he said, "Oh, BRILLIANT!" and he rushed through the door, nearly knocking down other soldiers as he hurried through the halls of Thirteen.

How he had missed all the running. Living in District 13 was almost domestic. Ew. Domestic stuff.

Despite it being very late, the area near the hospital wing was in a manner of chaos. People were up and yelling and talking and the Doctor spotted soldiers being tended to by nurses. Near him was Haymitch, Finnick and Katniss, all looking about frantically. Boggs had followed the Doctor.

The Doctor's wide eyes looked about. He saw Finnick nearly getting tackled by a dark-haired young woman in a sheet, pinning him against the wall.

"Where's-where's - excuse me, can you tell where-" the Doctor said, holding up an index finger as he tried to get the attention of a nurse. "Sorry, need to locate someone. Blonde hair, goes by the name of Rose. Where is she?"

"Sir?" a nurse said, holding a clipboard.

"Oh, yes, thank you," the Doctor said, "where can I find Rose Tyler?" His eyes looked away from the nurse for a moment to watch a stretcher pass by. Shaven and covered in bruises, it was Johanna Mason, the fierce girl from District 7. The one with the axe. Not Rose.

"Down that hall," the nurse said, pointing, "third room on the left. We have her sedated, but she should be stable. Try to keep the visit short."

"Yes, of course, can I PLEASE see her now?" the Doctor asked.

The nurse nodded and hurried over to one of the soldiers.

The Doctor quickly skirted around a corner and down the hall into a big room. The third curtain was open, and he stopped running and slowly made his way into the doorway. It was rather quiet. She must be in a quiet spot in the hospital wing.

The room with curtains for walls was white, and her right hand wall was actually a wall. There was a monitor and a pump full of clear liquid that was strung to a wire. The wire wound its way around the curls of the white sheets into Rose's shoulder, which was covered with bruises.

The Doctor tentatively stepped into the small room. She was wearing a gray hospital outfit and was lying against a white pillow. Her blonde hair was dirty, but not as straggly or short as the Doctor had thought it would have been.

The blankets, he thought, would have made her look smaller, but she looked quite normal in the bed. Her eyes were closed and her chest was rising up and down steadily. The heart monitor beeped as the Doctor stepped a few steps closer. He was not sure what he was going to say. She was asleep, and from the looks of her, she looked relatively unharmed. He knew that that was not the case, of course. He knew whatever companions came with him in the TARDIS came to harm. There was no doubt that they had done something to her. Something horrible and painful.

Now, she looked peaceful. Calm. He couldn't help but smile as he looked at her. His hands settled on the edge of the bed as he squatted near her and he said quietly, "Hello, Rose Tyler. Nice to have you back. Been a bit boring without you and your constant questions." He cleared his throat and said, "Though, joking aside, I have missed you. Terribly."

He turned a bit to grab a chair. He sat down as he reached over and grabbed one of her hands, which despite being rough and chapped, was still the same hand he held numerous times.

She looked well, though bruised. He cleared his throat and said in a quiet voice, looking at the bags under her eyes and the bruise under her ear, "What did they do to you?"

"Excuse me," a voice said behind him. The Doctor turned his head and saw a District 13 nurse in white clothes who looked to be in his early twenties.

"Hello there," the Doctor said brightly as he gently set Rose's hand done and stood up. He smiled and said, "She's looking brilliant. Absolutely brilliant! You are all magical with medicine!"

"You're the Doctor, right?" the nurse said.

"Oh, yes. Not medical doctor per say, but you know. What is YOUR name, though? You do have a name, don't you?"

"Rally," the nurse said.

"Oh, well, hello, Rally!" the Doctor said, clapping an arm around Rally's shoulder. "Was just visiting my friend Rose here. It's been quite a while."

"Yes, um, sir, you're going to have to head out for a few minutes. Necessary checkup," the nurse said.

"She just got here fifteen minutes ago!" the Doctor pointed out.

"She had to be stabilized," Rally said.

"Oh, all right," the Doctor said grumpily as he looked to Rose. "Get better, right, Tyler?" and he nodded to Rally and hurried into the hallway.

He had a big grin on his face as he walked down the hall. Rose was here in District 13 and she was safe and not too banged up at the moment.

He was so cheerful that he barely noticed the fact that the hall was still in disarray and apparently something was happening. He straightened and his grin faded when he almost knocked someone over.

He kept walking until he reached the main part of the hospital, and heading to the receptionist/secretary person, he leaned over her counter and started to ask about the visiting hours when he heard several shouts and a thump.

"Forget that. Be back," the Doctor said, and he ran from the counter to the noise. A sort of crowd had formed around one of the rooms, and he shoved his way over, apologizing every time he touched someone. He came to the front and slipped through the curtains to see Haymitch helping an unconscious looking Katniss keep from falling to the ground as a trio of doctors tried to sedate Peeta. Boggs was massaging his fist and the Doctor said, "Oh, what happened here?"

"Open the door. And help get her to a bed," Haymitch said, and the Doctor immediately nodded and moving the curtain back a bit, said, "Oi, you lot! Move over a bit, would you!"

The Doctor turned back into the room and grabbed one of Katniss's arms carefully from Haymitch and the two of them set to go through the curtain.

"She needs a doctor. A real one!" Haymitch growled.

"Oh, that hurts, really does, Haymitch," the Doctor said before turning and calling, "oi, could SOMEONE get a stretcher? Would be helpful, you know."

A stretcher was brought over just as the Doctor and Haymitch took Katniss out of the room. The visitors and nurses were all abashed by the sight of the Mockingjay. Once she was on the stretcher, Haymitch gestured quickly for nurses to take her.

"What happened to her, then?" the Doctor asked Haymitch.

Haymitch sighed and said quietly, "Peeta tried to strangle her." He hurried away with nurses, making sure that only a few people would find out about one of the tributes, the traitor one, in fact, trying to strangle the Mockingjay.

The Doctor's eyes widened as they hurried away. A soldier asked, "What happened to her?"

"She-she passed out," the Doctor said before hurrying into Peeta's room. Why did he strangle her? That was the question. Coin wouldn't be too happy about this.

He found that Plutarch had also made his way into the room, and he was looking horrified at seeing Peeta getting sedated by three struggling doctors. The boy was looking feverish as he said, "Katniss, she's a mutt! Don't protect her! SHE NEEDS TO DIE BEFORE SHE HURTS SOMEONE ELSE!"

"Peeta! Peeta, Katniss is not going to hurt you," one of the medical doctors said as the boy started to stop struggling. The Doctor looked grim as Peeta lay on the bed, his chest going up and down frantically. The sedation was taking him under.

"What happened?" Plutarch wondered worriedly as the boy closed his eyes and the doctors started to set him up.

"Katniss came in to see him and he went crazy. He was fine on the way over. Sure, he was nervous and pale, but that was to be expected. Still, he only started like that when he saw Katniss. Had to punch him off of her," Boggs said, rubbing his hand.

Plutarch gulped and said, "Go get your hand bandaged. Get some soldiers and Coin. We're going to need some research on him."

"You're going to run some tests?" the Doctor asked quietly.

"Yeah. We've got to get down to see what they did to him," Plutarch said, watching the tribute as he got needles in him and a monitor. "I only hope we won't do something to make it worst."

"You'll probably be fine if you keep Katniss away. Sees like she's some sort of a trigger or what," the Doctor said. He gulped and said, "What kind of torture do you think they did to him?"

"Torture? Oh, I don't know," Plutarch said.

"Oh, c'mon. You're from the Capitol. You were the Head Gamemaker for pete's sake! You were BRILLIANT at hurting people, teens and kids, Plutarch," the Doctor said darkly, looking at the man. "You're bound to have some sort of idea." With a glaring look, the Doctor turned and hurried out of the room.

**ANGST. ANGST. ANGST. Thank you for reading!**


	9. Soldier, Soldier, Going Off to War

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Doctor Who or the Hunger Games. The plot is Suzanne Collins's with a few additions of my own imagination, and all the quotes from Mockingjay are owned by her.  
**

The Doctor stepped away from Plutarch and set to walking the halls, waiting for someone to call him in to check on Rose. He probably would, in different circumstances, go bounding about the rooms, peeking through the curtain and ask if the nurse was done yet, but he was too mad, too angry, too perturbed. Just now Plutarch was realizing that there was something seriously wrong with Peeta.

He passed by Plutarch, Haymitch and Beetee by Katniss's room, waiting to be called in. He ignored Plutarch and asked Haymitch, "How's she doing?"

"Dunno. Waiting for clearance," Haymitch said. "How's your girl?"

The Doctor made a neutral sound with his teeth and said, "Well, just waiting to be called in. She had to have a look over. Looks fine, despite the usual battering about wounds. Just waiting, yeah. Waiting like you."

Haymitch raised an eyebrow and the Doctor turned when he heard a voice saying, "Doctor?"

"Yes? Someone losing a limb or need something stitched up?" the Doctor said.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, it's just you, Rally. Playing with you. Do that a lot." The Doctor shrugged. "You wanted something, I presume?"

"Um, Miss Tyler is awake now. I'm done. You can go see her now," Rally said.

The Doctor nodded and turned to Haymitch, and said gravely, "Best of luck with Katniss," and he hurried away, quickly finding his way to the room where Rose was.

At the curtains, he took a deep breath and said, "Hello?"

"Doctor?" he heard excitedly.

"I'm coming in," he said excitedly, and he moved through the curtains and when he saw Rose on the bed, sitting up with a big smile on her face, he grinned and sticking his hands in his pockets and said, "Hello there."

"Oh, come here, you," Rose said, and the Doctor hurried forward and gave her a firm, friendly but gentle hug, and he let out a sigh of relief as he leaned his head against hers. He could feel the smile on her face as she held him close to her, having not been with him for several painful weeks.

"I've missed you," Rose said, and the Doctor could detect tears in her voice along with her smile.

He pulled back despite himself and looked, really looked at her face. The bruise under her ear did seem prominent, but not so her eyes. Her brown eyes, which were usually so bright and cheery and mischievous, had lost its usual glow. Instead, they were filled with a sort of fizz, like fear. Even he could see the fear in her eyes behind the tears.

"You humans and your tears," the Doctor said jokingly, and Rose laughed weakly as her hand darted up and wiped at her eyes. He reached up and grabbed her hand and added, "Don't mind them much, though. Unless they get into hysterics. That's when they go crazy."

"We humans are a crazy sort, all right," Rose said, sniffing.

"Can say the same things for Time Lords," the Doctor said.

"We crazy lot," Rose said.

"Yep," the Doctor said.

Rose sniffed and said quietly, "Peeta's going crazy, too. Real, really crazy, Doctor."

"I know. He just attacked Katniss. Nearly strangled her, too," the Doctor said quietly.

"You NEED to keep him away from her. He thinks she's a dog, or something, I dunno," Rose said. "Kept calling her a mutt."

"There's actually something else called a mutt," the Doctor said. "Haymitch told me about them. They're things called muttations, and they're animals that are more dangerous than regular ones."

"Sound like aliens," Rose said jokingly.

"Yeah, a bit," the Doctor smiled.

"Is that what those monkeys were? In the arena?" Rose asked. "Those-those things. They were crazy. I didn't seem them attack, but Peeta told me about them, and they were everywhere."

"Yes," the Doctor said quietly.

"Those birds with the screams?"

"Yes."

"Doctor," Rose said after a moment, "what screams do you think I would have heard if I was there with Katniss and Finnick?"

The Doctor had a slight hoping, but he instead cleared his throat and said, "Probably . . . I don't know."

"I mean, they've never seen Mum or Mickey. Not any of the aliens we've met traveling," Rose said quietly. "There's . . . nobody. 'Cept the tributes."

"And me," the Doctor said quietly.

"Yeah. I guess. They didn't know where you were, though, did they?" Rose looked at him quizzically as the Doctor let go of her hand so that she could make herself set up straight. She settled down and said curiously, "Where were you, anyway? You set me those-"

"Bananas," they said together. Rose smiled and said, "Very subtle, aren't you?"

"What? Nobody's going to get bananas," the Doctor said in defense.

"Exactly. Who else would get them but me? Now, c'mon. Where were you hiding out?" Rose asked.

"Well, long story there," the Doctor said with a laugh, sticking his hands in his pockets.

Rose clasped her hands together and said, "Believe me, I've got time."

So the Doctor grabbed a chair and sat down and told Rose everything. After all, she had been tortured for such information. Why make her suffer in vain? He told her everything, from meeting Haymitch and watching the whole thing on bunches of little screens to helping Beetee with fixing up the controls to throw the Capitol down. From Katniss putting down her name on the list of demands to the rescue team.

"And then, that's about it," the Doctor said.

Rose nodded and said, "So what do you think'll happen? Are we hanging around long enough to see the rebellion come full force, then?"

"Don't know. Guess we'll have to stick around," the Doctor said, sighing. He clasped his hands together and said, "The TARDIS is stuck in the Capitol. Poor girl. She'll need tuning up."

"Think they can send in a team to rescue the TARDIS?" Rose asked teasingly.

The Doctor shook his head. "They don't waste resources around here, District Thirteen. Whole lot's strict 'bout that sort of thing. Practical, but stingy."

"They all like that, then?" Rose asked.

"Yep. All of them," the Doctor said, and Rose smiled at the smile at his face. He had it because he was very, very glad he got his inquisitive companion back.

* * *

A few weeks passed in Panem. Despite his hints, comments and suggestions, Coin would not command for another sneaky trip into the Capitol to retrieve the TARDIS. The Doctor would usually be able to find a sneaky way out of 13, but it was like a prison. Guards were everywhere. Weapons rationed out. Very thorough and very much not something the Doctor was used to nor something he liked.

So he and Rose were stuck at District 13 for quite a while. Though he didn't mind too much, seeing her get better, he was antsy to get out from the under the ground. He often chatted about meaningless things with Rose to keep her from getting bored. She had to stay in the hospital for a while to get more tests and to be monitored. She was always asked questions about the torture she had endured by the doctors and nurses, and even though she stayed nonchalant about it, the Doctor could tell it pained her. He always stood off to the side, watching her as she answered a question with a flip of her hand, the nurse writing down what she said. From what she said, she had been hit with electric volts to the brain. Somehow, they weren't as bad as she made them out to be. They sounded deadly, but examinations of her brain proved that the entirety of it was all right. She was a bit disoriented for the few days after she had arrived from a fever, but it broke and she was coming back from it.

The Doctor was reminded of a torture he had once seen. It was from the slave planet of Arkeen where the slaves were hit with volts from halos around their heads when they didn't do something properly or at all. It hit him with a sense of annoyance that that kind of torture was used at all. He detested having innocent people be tortured for something they didn't have or didn't do. Especially when it happened to Rose.

"Does it hurt, to talk about it?" he asked one afternoon after the nurse was gone.

"A bit, yeah. It helps a bit, though, too," Rose said quietly.

"But it still hurts?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah," Rose said in a whisper.

"I'm sorry, Rose," the Doctor said after a moment, though there was much more he wanted to say to show how horrible he felt about it.

Much like Katniss, who was sent out to a mission or something in District 2, he now had a sort of vendetta against President Snow. He and Rose had seen him on the screen they had in the various curtained rooms. He gave them nothing more than meaningless war news. Stuff that meant nothing. The thing that did cheer the both of them up was the propos that they saw of Katniss in District 2.

"Still hanging in there, Panem," the Doctor said after a propo played of Katniss tending to district soldiers.

"She's really doing a lot," Rose said.

The Doctor nodded and turning to Rose, said, "Welllllll, she is the Mockingjay. Has to do a lot, the celebrity she is."

Rose nodded. "It's nice seeing the leaves out there. It's been awhile since I've seen fall. It's one of my favorite seasons, you know."

"Didn't know that," the Doctor said. "One of mine, too."

"Didn't know that," Rose said quickly, making the Doctor grin.

* * *

Days passed quietly. Things weren't looking too well for Panem. After the bombing of District 8, things had picked up. Every district was out from under the Capitol's hand except for District 2, which Haymitch had said was the Capitol's special district.

"The one that produces most of the Peacekeepers," Haymitch had said.

There was live film of a large mountain in District 2 getting bombed. Avalanches hit it, causing dirt to overcome the mountain. There was a lot of activity in Command that day. The Doctor and Rose merely watched the mountain go down with grim faces. Rose was sure that the Doctor had seen worse, but she knew that it crushed him every time innocent lives were lost. People were in that mountain. She knew seeing the trains going in and out at the bottom.

"How many, do you think, in there?" Rose asked quietly.

"Hundreds of you humans. All gone," the Doctor said, his teeth on edge. He looked away for a while before Rose said, alarmed, "Doctor!"

The Doctor quickly looked to the television. On the screen was Katniss, and she was standing, looking like a statue, in front of a man holding a gun. A man who looked smoked. The Doctor saw a train and he said, "Trains came in?"

"He's a passenger," Rose said.

"What's she doing? Oh, she's talking. Talking your way out of a situation is the way I do it. Always works except when it doesn't," the Doctor said absent-mindedly before Rose looked at him with a dark look and said, "Doctor."

"Yeah, right. Sorry," and looking back to the screen, he was just in time to see Katniss get shot.

The TV went to a black screen and Rose and the Doctor stared at it a moment longer before they looked to each other. Rose looked shocked and horrified while the Doctor looked incredulous.

"What the hell?" they both said at the same time.

District 13 was in a buzz with the news as after a few days, the Doctor heard that Katniss had been brought in on a hovercraft to the hospital wing. He stayed by Rose, peeking out the curtains and telling her everything that could be told as they brought her in until he could see no more.

"Blah. Can't see any more. Too many nurses and doctors," the Doctor said. Turning back to Rose, he said, quirking his face, "Might be an idea to have a doctor or nurse as a companion. Right convenient, that."

"Oi! Remember who can hear you!" Rose said, laughing as she threw a pillow as far as she could, which was about two feet in her weakened state.

"Yeahhhhh, sorry," the Doctor said.

"Going to go see her when it's not crowded?" Rose asked.

"Sure," the Doctor said, shrugging. "Why not?

He did find Katniss, a few days later, when she was permitted visitors. Even with bruised ribs, a ruptured spleen and a gunshot, she was forced to talk short walks to get herself back on her feet.

"How're you feeling, then?" the Doctor asked her as he leaned against a monitoring machine that was near the receptionist's desk.

"Sore. Annoyed. The usual, Doctor," Katniss said sarcastically as she took slow steps, her hands on her hips as she let out little breaths.

"Oh, you'll get through it. I know you can," the Doctor said.

"No, you don't," Katniss said, looking at the Doctor with a dark look. "Unless you're a real doctor, you don't know. And I do believe you actually told me once that you weren't a real doctor. You just liked the name."

"It isn't a BAD name if you ask me. I like it. That's why I chose it," the Doctor said in reply. "You're going to get past this, Katniss. I've seen you, in the Games and the propos and District Eight. You were brilliant. Haymitch told me you had been in the Games before. Believe me, those things can be hard on you. I know."

"How do you know? It's not like you've had to fight to the death, or-or have someone you love get threatened!" Katniss said, looking sharply at the Doctor.

"Oh, but I do know. I know all those things, Katniss Everdeen. I've done things you've never ever thought of, nor want to hear of. Believe me, Katniss, I made it out of those, and you will too. Because you're stronger than me. You're stronger than I'll ever be. Despite you being an emotional humany wumany, you're stronger than I am," the Doctor said solemnly. He nodded and said, "That's a fact."

"How?" Katniss said after a moment.

"Because you don't let things get to you. You deal with the things that you don't like. Me? I feel guilt. I feel more guilt than you, Katniss," the Doctor said quietly. "And that's something I'll always do."

* * *

The next few days were rather normal, for District 13, anyway. Johanna and Rose were slowly recovering. The Doctor went to see one of Peeta's therapy sections, which involved taking the same memories and projecting them on a screen for the tormented teen to see. When Peeta saw them, they would give him a dose of morphling, making him calm ,and hopefully he'd be able to recognize Katniss as someone who didn't want to kill him.

He seemed to do well enough, considering everything. The Doctor would watch with his hands in his pockets, not saying a word to the chattering District 13 doctors.

Rose was walking around as well, and the Doctor got to go with her to lunch one time. It was nice doing something normal with her out of the hospital for once, and they had a good, rueful laugh over the disgustingness of the stewed squash they grew in the underground gardens. With District 2 in the districts' hands and Katniss recovering, spirits were high, especially for another reason.

"What's got you all excited?" Rose wanted to know as the Doctor darted in one day.

"Guess what there's going to be?"

"I dunno, what?"

"A wedding! I love weddings! Love them! Always fantastic things, with the people and the cake and oi, I do love a wedding. I'm rubbish at them, but OHHH, they're amazing!" the Doctor said quickly, his face all lit up. "Fascinating things, always different on different planets. Did you know on the Zephron asteroid, the aisle was made out of crumbled asteroid? They got married on their home, literally."

"Remember that wedding Mum and Dad went to the day Dad died?" Rose couldn't help but muse as she sat on the edge of the bed, putting her hair up into a ponytail.

"Yeah," the Doctor said quietly, not sure why she brought it up.

"Only wedding I've ever been to," Rose said as she finished with her hair. "Strange, considering I go traveling around with you."

"You're annoyed because you haven't been to more weddings?" the Doctor asked, cocking his head.

"Hey, an alien wedding sounds like something fun," Rose said. She waved a hand about and said, "You all probably have weird traditions like bathing in bread dough, or some sort of special algae. I don't know," she added when the Doctor laughed. "Something that isn't normal on Earth."

"Funny, the Algoran people LOVE bathing in special algae. On their holidays, not weddings, though," the Doctor said brightly.

"Been to a lot of weddings, Doctor?" Rose asked.

The Doctor nodded, and he said in a calmer voice, "Oh, yeah. Lots and lots and lots of weddings. All different and all weird but all very, very special."

"Who IS getting married, anyway?" Rose asked as she slowly detached her morphling and got ready to stand up.

"Oh, Finnick and Annie! Aren't they adorable together?" the Doctor said excitedly as he hurried to her, holding out one of his hands for her to grab when she needed to. "I was wishing they would get married, those lovebirds, and now they are! Fantastic!"

"Oh, yes, fantastic," Rose said as she took his hand and gripping it tightly with both of her hands, pulled herself up.

"You're getting better at that," the Doctor said as he gently pulled her a bit more to keep her steady.

"Better hope so. I'm getting tired of sitting in that bed. You know what I want to be doing?" Rose asked him as he let go of one of her hands so that they were just holding one of the other's hand.

"What?"

Rose looked at him with a cheeky grin and said, "Running."

* * *

It was a very wonderful wedding. Katniss managed to take Annie to her old house in District 12 and the quiet bride was wearing a green silk dress.

"That looks lovely on her," Rose whispered to the Doctor as Annie went down to join a dressed up Finnick and a man named Dalton who would be conducting the ceremony.

"Don't know much about dresses, but I'll agree with you," the Doctor said, making Rose smile and lean against him.

The ceremony went on quite well. Rose realized that she hadn't seen something so lovely and not serious and just fun since the day that she and the Doctor had come over to Panem. That morning, they had had a fun breakfast of leftovers from the first restaurant in France when the TARDIS had started to act up. Funny that one simple acting up could result in all of this. While the choir sang for Finnick and Annie, Rose silently wished that they'd be able to soon go and fetch the TARDIS and maybe put an end to this war.

Despite these thoughts, she was happy for Finnick with Annie. He had been completely enamored with her when he told Rose about her in the arena, and according to the Doctor, he had been a wreck until Annie came back. He didn't look like a sort of person who could fall apart that easily. Then again, none of them did, and look at them. Peeta, tortured. Katniss, shot. Johanna, tortured. Rose wondered if she looked like she could break under pressure.

The ceremony ended with a kiss and there was cheering as everyone headed toward the party.

It was set in a rather large room, which was white. People started to buzz about, talking and congratulating the married couple. Rose, holding the Doctor's hand, turned to him and said, "Let's go, wish them well and all that."

"All right," the Doctor said with one of his grins, and Rose smiled back at him as they hurried over to Annie and Finnick.

The two looked very happy, despite the strangeness of their District 13 wedding. Rose attributed that to the fact that they were very much in love, something she hadn't seen in a while (not since she had seen the servant of Lady Derkna on Planet 65 confess his everlasting love for the Lady).

The Doctor offered his hand to Finnick and shook it enthusiastically, saying, "Congratulations, Finnick. Brilliant wedding."

"Thank you, Doctor," Finnick said. He looked a little dazed but quickly warmed right back up.

"Congratulations, Annie," Rose said to the dark-haired girl. She added, "I don't know you that well, but I think you and Finnick are going to be amazing together."

"Thank you," Annie said quietly, and she looked at Rose with a strange look as she said quietly, "what's your name again?"

"Rose. Rose Tyler," Rose said. "I'm Finnick's friend."

"Oh, that blonde girl in the Games," Annie said slowly, as if the memory was slowly coming back to her. "Oh, all right."

Rose smiled at her. Annie returned the gesture, and then she added, "You were on the hovercraft too, weren't you?"

"Yeah. I was rescued from the Capitol too," Rose said.

Annie nodded slowly and didn't say anything. Rose was about to turn to the Doctor when a sound filled the air, a sort of musical noise.

"What's that?" the Doctor said, and Rose turned to where he was looking. He was craning his neck over the crowd, and Rose asked him, "What is it?"

"Dunno," the Doctor said, and his head went back and forth until he finally said, "oh, it's a fiddler!"

"A fiddler?" Rose asked. "They still have those?"

"Apparently so," the Doctor said cheerfully as the people in front of him started to move about.

"I think they're going to dance," Rose said, and Finnick and Annie passed them, holding each other's hands. She watched them all for a moment before quickly turning to the Doctor and saying before she ran out of courage, "Do you want to . . you know . . . dance?"

"Me? Dance?" the Doctor asked, looking to Rose. He looked at her with a grin, but it faded when he saw the serious look on her face. Out of habit, he licked his lips and said nonchalantly, "Nah, I can't dance."

"You can and you know it," Rose said, bumping him with her hip. "Come on."

"Come on now, Rose Tyler, I did ONCE. Never said I'd do it again," the Doctor said, and that was when the music started to play louder, and the people started out in two lines and started to dance about.

"Come on, Doctor. Just one dance, and I swear that'll be it," Rose said.

The Doctor sighed and said, "You're still not all better, you know."

"One . . . dance, Doctor," Rose said, raising up one of her index fingers. "Just . . . one."

"Ohhhhh, all right, I guess," the Doctor said after a moment, looking a bit annoyed. Rose grinned and grabbed his hands and practically dragged him in, for his feet were stumbling to catch up with her.

"Oh, careful!" the Doctor said. "Not used to partying like you humans."

"Since when are you ever careful?" Rose asked him.

"True that," the Doctor said, and with a smile on his face, he twirled her around in the crowd of dancing people.

The two of them danced for a bit, making Rose say, "You still have moves."

The Doctor twisted and said, "Never lost them. Just never use them."

Rose smiled, and despite the Doctor's claims to do only one dance, the two of them danced on the dance floor past the time that the cake came out ("Peeta did that, huh?" the Doctor mused. "He's getting better, isn't he?" Rose wondered. "Dunno," the Doctor murmured), to when the curfew came about and everyone was pushed to go back to their compartments. The Doctor helped Rose back to her hospital cell, for she had her arms folded over herself for protection.

"Feeling sore?" the Doctor asked her.

"Very," Rose said, and the Doctor nodded and got her into bed before she fell asleep in his arms. He didn't bother to wake her to get dressed. She often slept in her clothes on their adventures, having no time or resources to get in her nightclothes. She lay on the bed, breathing evenly, looking a sight better than she had when she had first lay on that bed.

The Doctor watched her for a moment, marveling in her calmness. She was such a bold, wild sort of person, imaginative and so very human. It was hard to find a time where she was calm.

The Doctor smiled before closing the curtain, saying, "Night then, Rose Tyler."

* * *

It was not the first time that the Doctor found himself racing down a long, narrow hall. He did this several times a month. Usually, anyway. He didn't always come to District 13 to come race down halls.

He nearly ran into a wall, but quickly ran around the corner and hurried into Command, having heard from Haymitch that there was a squad going out to the Capitol in about three weeks. The Capitol was where his TARDIS was. Being on that squad was imperative.

It seemed to him, when he got to Command, that Katniss had been informed of the same information as he had, and was arguing with the President.

"But I have to go," Katniss said as the Doctor quietly made his way into the room. Even though he was known to be in there several times on several occasions, he still felt the need to sneak in. Perhaps it was because President Coin didn't really like him. It was probably the fact that he liked sneaking around, though.

He could hear Katniss as he found Boggs, who was watching the argument.

"Who's winning?" the Doctor asked.

"I think Katniss," Boggs said before shaking his head and saying, "can I help you with something, Doctor?"

"Oh yes. I want to go on with the squads to the Capitol. Think Coin will let me? Shouldn't be too hard to ask her, seeing as Katniss has her way," the Doctor said, nodding to Katniss and Coin, who seemed to have reached some sort of an agreement. Katniss nodded to the President and then hurried out of Command. "She's in worse shape than I am."

"I don't think so," Boggs said.

"Oh, come on," the Doctor said playfully, "sure you all will be glad to get rid of me. Truth be told," he added, looking back over Command, "I'd like to be rid of this place."

"I'll be going with the squads," Boggs said.

"Oh, guess you won't be rid of me, eh?" the Doctor said.

"I will if you don't come," Boggs pointed out.

"Watch me get on it," the Doctor said, and he walked briskly away, and after a fifteen minute discussion with President Coin that involved the Doctor saying how he was a soldier before, and how he can still keep up with the rest of the trainees and pointing out that he won't be able to bother her anymore, he walked quickly back to Boggs with a skip in his step. He leaned over the railing of the raised floor above the ground floor and grinning smugly, looking to Boggs, who shook his head and walked to other soldiers.

With that, the Doctor was given instructions to go to training. He did so, but he didn't use or assemble the gun, looking at the pieces with scathing looks. This annoyed his instructors enormously, but no one complained to Coin for they didn't want to make her angry. Besides, the Doctor impressed them with his other skills in other levels of the field. He watched Johanna and Katniss when he wasn't building guns. They seemed to be getting better, though they both looked very tired.

With the Doctor away a lot more working away at training, Rose stayed in her hospital room. She did not have the patience or the strength to go and train. Johanna and Katniss were more trained than she was, and she was sure that Coin did not want her to be on the squad.

There was someone that Rose looked forward to seeing everyday as she sat on the side of the bed, reading from some of the textbooks of District 13. She would come in to help her with a small dose of morphling, which she was getting weaned off of.

"Hey, Prim," Rose said, looking up when she saw the young teen peeking through the curtain, looking like she didn't know if she should disturb her or not.

Prim smiled and entering, said, "Here you go." She disconnected the empty bag and put the new bag on it. Rose let out a sigh as the morphling entered her blood. They had long ago decided when Prim first came to help Rose that she would call her Prim and not Doctor Everdeen or something like that.

"Thanks," Rose said.

"No problem," Prim said, and she looked ready to leave, but she instead hesitated and said, "Rose, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, fire away," Rose said, looking up from the textbook.

"You say you're not from one of the districts, and I know that you're not from the Capitol, so where did you come from?" Prim asked.

"Somewhere far off, very far away from here," Rose said.

"Where?"

"In another country."

"You're not from Panem?"

"No," Rose said, "I'm from a place called London."

"Where's that?"

"In England."

"What's England?" Prim asked curiously.

Rose looked at her curiously, almost concerned. She shoved away the textbook and said, "You don't know what England is?"

"No," Prim said as she took a seat on the edge of the bed that Rose beckoned her to. "There are other places out there besides Panem?"

"Oh, Prim, you have NO idea," Rose said. She smiled as she thought of all the fantastical places that the Doctor had taken her, all the countries and planets and landmarks and lands and buildings that simply amazed her. She added softly, "There are tons of places outside of here."

"Really?" Prim asked with childlike curiosity.

"Oh yeah," Rose said, nodding, looking away at the wall as if she was looking at some faraway place.

"Are they scary, those places?" Prim asked. Rose looked back to her, and remembered that the girl had grown up in a place where the Hunger Games were legal; she probably had different ideas of what scary things were to her.

"Some, yeah," Rose said, nodding. "But . . . I always traveled with the Doctor, and he can get out of most any situation he's in. How'd you think he got into training?"

Prim smiled and after a moment, she said, "My full name is Primrose."

"Really?" Rose said, who hadn't known that at all.

Prim nodded. "Most people just call me Prim because it's shorter. I do like the rose part, though."

"So do I," Rose said with a laugh.

Prim smiled and she glanced at her arm and immediately stood up, saying quickly, "I have to get back to my route. Have to follow the schedule."

"A'ight," Rose said.

Prim nodded and bid her goodbye before she hurried out of the room, nearly bumping into the Doctor, who was rushing in.

"Oh, sorry, Prim," the Doctor said quickly.

"It's all right," Prim said as she hurried on. The Doctor nodded and hurried into Rose's room, his hands out in excitement as he said, "Guess what just happened?"

Rose shrugged and said, "I dunno."

"Tomorrow, I am going to take an exam of some sort, don't know exactly what it is, I'll ask Boggs, but that means if I pass, I get to go to the Capitol. I find the TARDIS, it'll be FANTASTIC!" the Doctor said, looking at Rose excitedly.

"When are you heading out?" Rose asked slowly.

"Don't know. Not even part of a squad, yet. Absolutely brilliant, huh?" the Doctor said, looking like Christmas had come early and he had found real snow.

"You sure you'll get picked?" Rose asked.

"Just need to pass my exam. Great, isn't it? Though I'll have to assemble and use a gun. Bugger," the Doctor said, frowning.

"Sounds unfortunate," Rose said.

"Oh, it'll be all right. And hey, if I make some friends and please said friends, I might be able to get myself on the squad with Katniss," the Doctor said. "She's rather strange, I'll admit. Like her spunk, though."

"SHE'S strange?" Rose asked with a laugh.

"I think so," the Doctor said, making Rose shake her head.

"Seriously, though, Doctor, are you sure you want to get involved in this war?" Rose asked, looking to the Doctor with a serious expression.

"What? Rose Tyler, of all the people I've met, you're probably the one of only a few people who I'd pick out to know that I always get involved in stuff," the Doctor said. He gulped and added quietly, "Especially wars."

"It's just . . . this war has been going on for ages. How much longer do you think it'll be going on? How much longer do you think we'll be here?" Rose asked, for once sounding concerned instead of like a seven-year-old, which she acted more like when she was with the Doctor more times than she would admit.

"Don't know, for sure. Wars can last as long as decades, Rose," the Doctor said, "but I'm going to help these people as much and for as long as I can. I try to help people, Rose, or else what do I have to do?" He smiled and said, "I'm just a Time Lord with my time machine. It's all I can do."

* * *

The Doctor went through his exam quite well. The last part of the test was for him to go through a replica of a street of the Capitol. He heard Katniss tell Johanna, both who had managed to get through the training, that she heard that the street was going to target their weaknesses. The Doctor looked scared at that. What weakness would District 13 know or think he had?

He saw Johanna get called up, and then Katniss. Boggs came over as his name was called and said, "Good luck, Doctor."

The Doctor turned and smiling, said, "Hope I get on your squad, Boggs."

Boggs threw him a look as the Doctor headed into the Block, his hands holding the gun he had to assemble. He had to admit, though he had frowned and been annoyed the entire time he assembled it, it would work. Almost as good as an alien gun. Almost.

Heading into the Block, he looked around, having not been in there before. There was buildings and the ceiling was grey and the ground looked like a real street. There was things the Doctor had to watch out for, and now he looked out and said in an incredulous voice, "This is it, then?"

He shrugged and started walking forward. He had been told to get to the end of the street and behind a certain building while not getting killed. Simple enough, he supposed. Humans were so simple.

Halfway down the street, he found a bunch of rubble. Out of the ground appears something that looked like a bunch of bugs.

"Mutts?" he muttered under his breath as he quickly slipped to the other side of the street. He noticed one of the cameras the district was using to monitor him, and he waved excitedly at it, saying, "Hello there!"

A noise made him turn. The smile faded as he caught sight of a large, robotic looking figure approach him.

"Cybermen?" he whispered, but as the robot came closer, he saw that it was not anything but a robot, manufactured by District 13. It struck him as a cyberman, though he shook his head of the thought and said, "All right, not a cyberman."

A bunch of dust had appeared behind the robot and the Doctor saw several fallen figures on the ground. He glanced back to the robot and saw a gun, which was pointed at him.

"No, no, no, you might not want to do that," he said, standing up straight.

"I killed your friends. Now I kill you," the robot said.

"No need to do that," the Doctor said, his mind reeling as he tried for time. Katniss had said that this was going to target his weaknesses. Thing was, he didn't know what his weakness was. There was his companions, maybe, but that was it. He gulped when he thought of Rose. Did they have her?

"I killed your friends. Now I kill you," the robot said, growing closer as it raised its gun.

"Oh, now, why do that? You can stop, you can-" and it hit the Doctor just like that. His eyes wide, he looked down at his hands, which held his gun. "I need to shoot."

That was it. That was his weakness. The willingness he had to let evil people and aliens stop. His weakness was giving out a chance to redeem. It was forgiveness.

The only way he could get to the Capitol was to pass the test. This was part of it. Gulping, he raised his gun, the robot coming steadily closer to him, its gun charging up.

The Doctor's eyebrows furrowed, his lips set into a thin line and he whispered, "I'm not sorry," and he pulled the trigger.

The robot fell, and the Doctor brought the gun to his side, looking at the robot with a stony glare. Without a word, he walked to the point he was supposed to reach, and dropped his gun.

He walked and a soldier congratulated him, and he stayed mute as his hand got stamped with a number. He waved off a soldier who said that he would need to buzz his hair more.

"The only way you're getting to this hair is over my dead body," the Doctor said, and he kept his unstamped hand over his hair. He looked at his other as he made his way down the halls, not even sure where his feet were taking him.

He quietly entered Command and he saw Boggs, who said, "Your hand."

The Doctor lifted it up and said, "I'm on Squad Four-Five-One."

"That's mine. It's a special unit of sharpshooters," Boggs explained.

"Then why am I in it?" the Doctor asked, shoving his marked and unmarked hands into his pockets as if to hide them.

"The group is made up of a few soldiers and then Gale and Katniss," Boggs explained. "It's meant to show the Capitol that we're victors and showing them off."

"But I'm not-not . . . I'm not a victor," the Doctor said as Boggs hurried over to the rest of the group, where Plutarch started to explain everything. They were going to go over to the Capitol, to the outskirts. The Capitol and the districts were at a standstill at the moment. The Capitol was gathered to the center of an almost square city, and the districts were at the edges of it. There was a ring of streets separating them.

Plutarch then brought out a hologram, and the Doctor instantly forgot the guilt he was feeling and hurried forward, a finger out to point out points of sorts.

"Oh, love these things!" the Doctor said, bringing out his sonic screwdriver to examine it. Plutarch smiled proudly and explained that it was a map of the streets. On the streets were things called pods that were like booby traps when provoked. They could shoot anything from darts to bombs to anything.

"That's diabolical, but clever," the Doctor said, pocketing his sonic screwdriver. "You know, my screwdriver could do WONDERS on these things."

"If you didn't provoke them first," said Finnick.

"Yeah, that's true," the Doctor said.

The meeting went along quite well, and the following few days, the squad went to training. The Doctor reluctantly, with a poker face mixed with a slight grimace, shot at the dummies. Gale said that he was a good shot. The Doctor didn't feel any better at that.

There was one morning when Plutarch came into the training room and clapping his hands together, he said, "Squad Four-Five-One, you have been selected for a special mission."

Everyone turned to him. The Doctor slowly set down his gun and looked back to Plutarch, saying brightly, "Oh, what would that be? Anything to get out of here."

"We have numerous sharpshooters, but rather a dearth of camera crews. Therefore, we've handpicked the eight of you to be what we call our 'Star Squad.' You will be the on-screen faces of the invasion."

"So, what you're saying, exactly," the Doctor said, walking over to Plutarch as the group started to protest, annoyed, "we're not actually going to be fighting? Change of plans, Plutarch, or was that the plan all along?" His dark eyes looked at the pudgy ex-Gamemaker. They had made him train, use a gun, and all for nothing? Some of him felt relieved, but some of him felt deeply annoyed. "Doesn't do well to deceive us, Plutarch. You of all people should know that. Though," he said, clapping his hands together, "it's not a bad change of plans, what do you say, Katniss?"

Katniss looked at him, startled, and shrugged.

Gale looked annoyed as he said, "So we're not actually going into combat?"

"You will be in combat, but perhaps not always on the front line. If one can even isolate a front line in this type of war," Plutarch said, not making eye contact with anyone.

"None of us wants that," Finnick said.

"No, we don't, so what ARE we going to be doing, Plutarch?" the Doctor asked, turning to look at the ex-Gamemaker. "What is the plan and why am I part of this group anyway?" He looked about the victors and Gale and the other soldiers and turning back to Plutarch, said, "'Cause I mean, what am I?" He shrugged. "Not a soldier. Not a victor. Not someone of complete and utter value. Why have me on your team?"

"You're here because of Miss Tyler," Plutarch said. "She made a deal out of you in the arena. We made a big deal about having Katniss fighting. Why not have the people that the Capitol doesn't like fighting against them together?"

The Doctor looked at Plutarch, and he remembered how Rose kept saying that the Doctor would come and rescue them. The Capitol was afraid of him, and they didn't even know who he was. The Capitol was starting to sound very much like the rest of the universe as Plutarch started talking again, and pointed out that Katniss wasn't complaining at all. Finally, with the Doctor keeping quiet, they were able to agree. They would be leaving presently on a train, and they better all be ready.

They were dismissed, and they all slowly separated in the hall to their compartments. The Doctor, his hands in his pockets, walked slowly over to the hospital wing, for the first person he wanted to talk to was Rose. He didn't even feel like talking about it, really, but he knew that she would want to know what happened the first chance she heard of it.

"What happened?" she said immediately, the moment he entered her room. She could already tell something was going to happen. She just didn't know what. The look on his face told her it was something horrible indeed, and she sounded curious as she patted a spot on her bed, gesturing for him to sit with her.

"Oh, nothing much, usual stuff," the Doctor said, taking his seat. "Shot nearly all the shots. Probably should have missed a few. Wish I missed a few."

"Don't be dodgy with me," Rose said.

The Doctor sighed as he said, "Plutarch has a mission for us now."

"He does?" Rose asked.

The Doctor nodded and gulped thickly. "Yep. Has us going out to the Capitol."

"That's great! That's what you wanted, isn't it?" Rose asked. She looked at him for a moment, and her smile faded when she didn't get a response. "Doctor?" she said, her voice having a bit of concern in it. "Something wrong?"

"It's just that . . . we're not actually going into combat," the Doctor said, the words sounding weird coming from his mouth.

Rose looked abashed but didn't move away as she said quickly, "But, isn't that a good thing? You-you don't like shooting, you don't like using guns, that's why no matter where we travel and how dangerous it is, you never carry a gun!"

"That's because my wits get us out of those places, Rose," the Doctor said quietly, his voice sounding even, but numb. "You can't use wits when you're a soldier in a rebellion."

"Doctor, I don't get it," Rose said, looking rather concerned, "why are you unhappy? You shouldn't! You should be ecstatic that you're not going to have to shoot people, AND you can go and find the TARDIS. Isn't that what you wanted to do?"

The Doctor didn't look at her as she continued, "Honestly, Doctor, the way you work. It's one thing or the other, isn't it? What's wrong this time?"

"Nothing, Rose, that's it! There's NOTHING WRONG!" the Doctor said, turning to look at her. He looked stricken as he added, "We were preparing to go out into the wrong, all the war and guns and BLOOD, Rose, but there's nothing! I've been training for this, Rose, and all of it's gone. I HATE IT, I hate wanting to want to kill someone just to validate the point of me training!"

Rose gulped as he added, his voice losing momentum, "It's-it's like preparing for something you don't want to do, for a long, long time, and then you don't have to do it. I'm ANNOYED, Rose, and I'm angry at myself for wanting to kill AGAIN!"

He began to breathe heavily, and he covered his face with his hands and said, "I'm turning into one of them."

"One of what?" Rose said closing, leaning toward him worriedly.

"A Dalek. Unmerciful. Soulless and killing. What am I?" he said quietly, sounding horrified and disgusted with himself.

"Doctor, you're not one of them," Rose said quietly, though she was not exactly sure what a Dalek was. She leaned her head against his shoulder and said, "You could never be one of them."

"But they're turning me into them, killing-"

"Doctor," Rose said, sitting up straight sharply. She looked mad as she said severely, "You are not turning out to be a Dalek! Look, you may not be as human as me, or-or Katniss, but that's just because you're not a human! You have emotions! You do care, Doctor, and I wouldn't be here if you didn't."

He didn't look at her straight away. He let her words sink in, absorbed them. She had a point, his annoyance with Haymitch got Katniss to see how much he cared for her, and she put Rose on her save list.

His emotions, too, got the better of him, showing the human side of an alien Time Lord. It was weird, thinking that he had emotions like a human.

He turned to look at Rose, and she looked back at him with a hard look, and he realized that Rose was a human with emotions as well, and looking at her made him feel sorts of different humany emotions that only proved to him that he was not turning into a soulless Dalek-like being.

"Don't . . . feel like that, Doctor," Rose said. "Because that's not who you are."

He looked at her for a moment, and took her in, and he said, "I . . . suppose not."

"You're not," Rose said quickly.

"Yeah, guess not," the Doctor said, and Rose smiled, and so did he, and feeling a wave of human emotion, he leaned in and kissed her, creating a moment that neither could or ever want to forget.

**FEELINGS. Thank you for reading! **


	10. Inflitrating the Capitol

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Doctor Who or the Hunger Games. Hope everyone had a great weekend! God bless you! :) **

The next morning, many people gathered to say goodbye to the squads there were heading out to the Capitol. The squad members and their families were up early and breakfast was put down without a second thought. That was when the Doctor learned that Johanna was mad over the fact that she wasn't going out. She was quite vocal about it, making Annie lean into Finnick's shoulder and Finnick reprimand his friend.

The hovercraft was ready, and Gale was bidding goodbye to his family and Katniss to her family and the Doctor, finally dressed in a soldier's outfit from 13, though against his will, turned to Rose, who had managed to be allowed out of the hospital.

"Doesn't look as bad as I think it is, is it?" the Doctor asked, pulling on his collar.

"I think it looks all right on you," Rose said, moving his hands away from his throat.

"Hate it. It is that hard for me to wear my own clothes? Seriously, the rules around here," the Doctor said. "Was never one for rules. Blah things, really."

"What can you do about it?" Rose asked him.

"Yeah, yeah, shut it, you," the Doctor said, making Rose smile.

"All right, I will," Rose said.

The Doctor smiled at her and Boggs came over and said, "Time to go, Soldier Doctor."

"Just because I'm wearing the suit doesn't mean you can call me that, Commander," the Doctor said as Boggs walked away. "It's still Doctor."

"All right, Doctor," Boggs said, looking stern as he turned about his heel and hurried over to two sisters, who were saying goodbye to their father.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, making Rose laugh. He turned back to her and said, "You know, the TARDIS will probably be mad at me."

"You did leave her for a quite a while," Rose said.

"Yeah," the Doctor said, clearing his throat. Damn it, he wasn't good at saying goodbye. His mouth opened and closed like a fish for a second before he said, "Rose, I don't know what to say."

"That's all right, I guess," Rose said, and she quickly wrapped her arms around him. He quickly brought up the extra weight and supported them both as he hugged her back as tightly as he could, relishing in her before he had to go fight in a war. Not something he particularly wanted to do at all.

They pulled apart and she said, "Make sure you get back alive. Don't know how I'll get back home without you."

The Doctor let out a teasing scoff and said, "Sure thing, Rose Tyler."

She watched as he boarded the hovercraft. He waved enthusiastically at her from the ladder, only one hand on the rungs, making Katniss look at him strangely and Finnick laugh. Rose waved back at the three of them and watched as the hovercraft moved away.

* * *

They took the hovercraft, which the Doctor explored, for he hadn't been in a flying machine in months, to District 12, which truly looked as decimated as Katniss had let on. She looked out over it with a poker look, and the Doctor wondered if that was what he looked like when he thought of Gallifrey.

They took a cargo train, which was quite dusty, to the mountain tunnels that were near the Capitol. They had to walk for six hours. The Doctor had wanted to run, for he did love running, and after living underground for several weeks, he felt like being out in the outside world and experiencing it. Boggs said no and so did Jackson, who was a woman who looked like she could barely move off of the couch, she looked so sluggish. She did keep fast pace with the Doctor, though, and he threw her random impressed looks, making her suspicious.

The Doctor had learned the names of his troop on the days in the train. There was Leeg 1 and 2 (the two sisters who had been saying goodbye to their dad in the Hangar), Homes, Mitchell, and Jackson. There was also the Capitol camera team, who gritted their teeth and didn't complain at all, which impressed the Doctor, since they were from the Capitol, which was what they were trying to defeat.

They arrived at base, saw that there was several different squads who were ready to go to war when the pods were deactivated, and set down to a few days of shooting at buildings.

* * *

"Quite exhausting work," the Doctor said, leaning on the barrel of his gun from their firing point.

"I know, right?" said Finnick as he shot at a window.

The Doctor nodded and Bogs called everyone together to go and work on one of the pods. He knew of it because he had a thing called the Holo. The Doctor wanted to check it out with the sonic screwdriver, but he was forced to contain his curiousness, for Boggs always kept it on his person.

"All right, now that pod right there," Boggs pointed to one several yards away, "is going to be firing gnats. Get smoke ready, and the spray. Cressida, your cameras."

Everyone armed with spray and smoke, Leeg 2 volunteered to activate it. A giant rock in her hand, she got within six feet of it and threw the rock at it, her spray and smoke in her hands, ready.

The thing was, it wasn't gnats. Leeg 2 was greeted with the ending of her life by a dart that hit her directly in her brain.

Everyone's eyes widened as Boggs called for everyone to halt. The darts had blown everywhere, hitting the buildings and street. Leeg 2 fell to the ground, her body motionless.

The Doctor looked around, and they waited for a moment before Boggs said, "All clear. Let's go," and they all ran to Leeg 2.

The Doctor and Leeg 1 got to her side first, and everyone else stood around her, astonished.

"A mislabeled pod," the Doctor said, feeling her wrist. He gulped and looking to the dead girl's body, whispered, "I'm so sorry." She didn't look older than twenty.

Leeg 1 looked at her sister with wide eyes and didn't say anything.

"I'm going to call in for a replacement," Boggs said.

The Doctor quickly looked back to him, saying in a dangerous voice, "You're just going to call up Coin and ask her for a replacement soldier?"

"Yes. We need another person on this squad, and she's gone," Boggs said before he told Finnick and Homes to help him take her body back to camp.

The Doctor stood up, a dangerous look on his face at the way that Boggs could so easily do that.

"Oh," Leeg 1 said, as Homes and Finnick carried her sister to the camp.

They buried Leeg 1, Boggs reigning over the burial with a speech. The Doctor hung in the background, and silently wondered how they buried people in District 13. Probably brought the family and the body up to the surface for the first time in their lives for a few minutes to take care of the body.

He would have spoken on behalf of Leeg 1, only he didn't know anything about her. A right shame, too. She seemed like a nice girl.

They continued with their breaking of windows the next day. They drank tea at night by the fires by their tents. The Doctor liked that. He was always in the mood for a cuppa of tea. Thing he missed about going to England. They always had tea there, no matter what. He and Rose always had a bit in the TARDIS, going to China and olden England for the bestest cups, laughing and talking over their drinks.

They hadn't shared time over a cuppa for a while now.

* * *

Prim had told Rose after the hovercraft had left for her to walk around the district more to get more movement in her. Rose agreed and went walking about. Sometimes she went out on small distances with Johanna, who was moody because she didn't get to go out to the Capitol. Sometimes when Prim had a few minutes, Rose walked with her instead.

She walked with Annie once. She was quieter than she usually was, but she answered each question brightly. Rose quite liked her, though she found her a bit weird when she on occasion covered her ears with her hands, as if some alarm went off that Rose didn't know about.

Today, she was walking past a room that she had seen a lot. It had a lot of guards in it, and she looked at it curiously. Thinking, she walked up to one of the guards and said, "Is it all right if I go on a walk with Peeta? You know, without guards?"

"Are you authorized?" the guard asked.

Rose looked at him for a moment before shaking her head. "No, but look. Katniss isn't here anymore. He's not going to be trying to kill anyone. He just needs to get out. Come on."

"Do you have any authorization?"

"I already said "No,'" Rose said, annoyed.

"I say she can go," a cool voice said. Rose turned to see a tall woman with a wave of seamless grey hair that touched her shoulders.

"President Coin," Rose said, though she hadn't seen her before. She knew exactly who she was.

"Miss Tyler," Coin said. She turned to the guard and said, "Let Miss Tyler take Mr. Mellark on a walk. Then I'll talk with him when he gets back."

The guard quickly entered the room, leaving Rose looking at President Coin.

"Thanks," she said.

"Have a nice walk, Miss Tyler," Coin said before walking quickly away.

Rose was left wondering what Coin wanted to talk to Peeta about when the guard came out, pushing Peeta ahead of him.

"Rose," he said, his voice sounding a bit relieved. "I haven't seen you! They won't let me out, Rose, they-"

"Hey, now they're letting us go on a walk. Let's do it, come on," Rose said, and Peeta nodded and jerked his hand from the guard and followed her, looking bemused.

The Doctor had told Rose that Peeta only reacted to Katniss, and that people from District 12 angered him. People from the Capitol angered him. The only people he was fine around was Delly Cartwright, a cheery girl, and the District 13 people and her and Johanna and Annie, since they were with him for a while. Even though Annie hadn't been there, she was an innocent girl who Peeta liked.

They walked for a while before Rose turned to Peeta and said, "What does Coin want to talk to you about?"

"How should I know? They never tell me anything here, what I'm supposed to do or what's happening outside," Peeta said. He looked to her and said, "Do they tell you anything?"

"Not much. I'm a patient in the hospital, after all," Rose said. She held up her wrist, which had her bracelet on it. "Unstable, Peeta. I get whatever the Doctor tells me."

"What does he tell you?"

"Stuff. Like he's out there at the Capitol now, trying to find the TARDIS," Rose said.

"What-what's a TARDIS?"

"A time machine," Rose said, knowing that since he was especially insane acting, she couldn't sugarcoat it or tell him something else.

His eyes widened and he said, "Wait, a time machine? What's that?"

"It's a big, blue box. It's, well, bigger on the inside. It's complicated," Rose said with a laugh. "Anyway, they'll tell us stuff when they know that we have to know about it, all right?"

"Yeah, great system," Peeta said.

Rose looked at him for a moment before saying, "What is it that Coin wants to talk to you about, anyway?"

"Oh, she wants to tell me something? First time I've heard that," Peeta said sarcastically as they turned a corner.

"Well, yeah," Rose said. "Any idea why she'd want to talk to you?"

"Dunno. I'm crazy and homicidal. I don't know," Peeta said in a quiet voice.

"There isn't anything you know that she doesn't, then?" Rose asked as they came around to the hall that had Peeta's room.

"Coin knows everything," Peeta said, and they looked up to see the two guards.

"President Coin has been waiting to see you," one said.

"Okay," Peeta said. "Bye, Rose," and he entered his room.

Rose watched the door close before she hurried over to her own hospital room, left hanging over what President Coin wanted with crazy, miserable Peeta.

* * *

The next day, when Rose was walking alone in the halls, she saw Peeta and his two guards walking down the hall. Peeta was wearing a military outfit, and was holding a gun.

"Peeta, what happened?" Rose asked as she hurried to keep up with them.

"I'm heading out to war," he said quietly.

"You're going out there? To one of the squads? To the Doctor's squad?" Rose asked quickly.

"One of their members died. I'm the replacement," Peeta said.

Rose's heart leapt at that, and she nearly stumbled as she brought herself to a halted stop. WHICH ONE. "Which one died, Peeta? Katniss, Finnick, the Doctor?"

"One of the sisters," Peeta said quietly. "She died with one of the pods."

Regaining balance, Rose said, "Peeta!"

"What?" he said, turning to face her. "What now, Rose?"

Rose looked at him for a moment before saying, "Remember this, Peeta. Katniss is not trying to kill you. She's isn't trying. She isn't bad."

Peeta looked back at her with a sullen but confused look before he was hurried away. Rose looked back after him, hoping that he remembered.

* * *

That evening was when Boggs called everyone over. The train had arrived, for it had gotten to crossing the country so that not everyone had to walk six hours to come over from the train station.

Katniss caught first glimpse of him, their new soldier, and the Doctor said, "Oh, is he cured now?"

Peeta, dressed in a military outfit, was carrying a gun and a grim look on his face.

"Nobody told us he was cured," Katniss said in a dazed voice.

"Yeah, but what do they tell us these days?" Gale said. "They don't tell us who the replacement soldier is."

"You've got that right," the Doctor said as Peeta came closer, looking annoyed.

"Hey, Soldier," Boggs said. "Let me have your gun."

Peeta handed his weapon over without a word, and Boggs took it and turned, saying something about having to make a phone call.

"It won't matter," Peeta said as they stood around, looking a bit shocked. "The president assigned me herself. She decided the propos needed some heating up."

"So you're going to acting with us?" Finnick asked.

"Yep," Peeta said.

"Welcome to the squad, then, Peeta," the Doctor said, holding out his hand. "Don't worry, we don't really do . . . much."

That's when Boggs came back, angry, and had Jackson appoint a two-person, round-the-clock guard on Peeta. They began to head back to their area of tents, Boggs saying how annoyed he was. He called for Katniss, and the two headed on a walk through the camp.

"So, Soldier Mellark, let's get you a tent," Jackson said.

"Okay," Peeta said. Finnick and the Doctor, appointed to be his bodyguards for the next few hours, watched him set up his tent, the Doctor talking up a storm.

"How're things back in District Thirteen? I know it's only been a couple of days, but then again, days for me can be a lifetime for someone else," the Doctor said.

"What?" Finnick asked with a big laugh.

"Oh, nothing much, nothing much at all," the Doctor said.

"Coin called me to come out. I went on a walk around with Rose first," Peeta said, securing his tent.

"Yeah, how is she?" the Doctor asked, trying to sound casual.

"Fine," Peeta said.

"What about Annie?" Finnick asked, a little concern in his voice.

"She's okay. She's quieter, though," Peeta said.

"She's like that," Finnick said.

Boggs called for them all go to the canteen, and so they did that. The Doctor kept an eye on Peeta, who was looking a bit pale and nervous. Gale was with Katniss in line for the canteen, and he seemed to notice that, for his hands were trembling and he nearly spilled his drink, making the District 13 people look at him in horror. Waste was not something they tolerated at all.

They all settled down in a tense circle, nobody saying much.

The Doctor ended up more playing with his food than eating it, saying, "Oh, I can mold it! Oh, that's brilliant, that!"

Everyone looked at him like he was daft and then turned to their food, having gotten used to the Doctor and his strangeness in their own ways.

After a while, Katniss got called to take a phone call and everyone took care of their plates before sitting around near their tents, Boggs telling them that since there was no sun, they were done for the day. That was fine, for the Doctor didn't like having to act for a camera. Of course, he didn't mind, but he felt at the moment like he didn't want to be in control of District 13 and get used like a puppet to do what they wanted. Instead, he found a piece of a broken weapon and spent the evening breaking it apart, using his sonic screwdriver.

He worked on it well into the night, saying good night to everyone that passed by. At around midnight, Finnick and Gale went to their beds and Katniss headed over to Peeta's sleeping bag, which was dragged out near the fires so that everyone could be able to see him from their tents.

"In for a long night?" the Doctor asked, looking up from his work.

"Probably," she said.

"Hey, just remember," the Doctor said, pointing to her with the sonic screwdriver still in his hand, "be careful with him. He's still not cured yet." He could tell, even if nobody told him. He might have a bit of a doctor inside of him.

"I know," Katniss said. She was about to keep walking when she looked back to the Doctor and said, "Are you sure, Doctor? That he's really there?"

"There's part of the old Peeta left. I've watched. I know," the Doctor said as he tightened a screw. He looked back to her and said, "I know. Trust me. I'm the Doctor."

Katniss nodded reluctantly and went on.

The Doctor nodded and continued with his tinkering until he could hear Peeta and Katniss's conversation over on the other side of their squad's camp. He stopped making noises with his screwdriver as they talked louder and louder. Reminded him of him and Rose. They used to have such delightful discussions late at night. She used to laugh a lot at the different explanations he had for things.

Peeta sounded irritated as he said, "The problem is, I can't tell what's real anymore, and what's made up."

It was quiet for a moment before Finnick said, "Then you should ask, Peeta. That's what Annie does."

"Ask who? Who can I trust?" Peeta asked.

The Doctor stood up and he walked to the sleeping bag, Jackson saying, "You can trust us, for starters. We ARE your squad." He looked to Peeta, who was knotting up a piece of rope.

"You can trust everyone on this squad, Peeta," the Doctor said. He shrugged, "I do." He held out his hand and said, "Trust me. I know you can. I'm the Doctor."

"I know that you're the Doctor," Peeta said.

"Yeah," the Doctor said, putting his hand down, "I've got a habit of adding it on. Probably shouldn't do that, ANYWAY, Peeta, like Finnick said, ask. Good night, you two," and he walked away from the sleeping bag and resumed his seat and his screwdriver.

After a while, though, he put down the piece of weapon, and looked down at the ground, wondering where things had gone and gotten more crazy than usual. Things like this didn't take that long. Time traveling let him experience the things that take lifetimes to see in three months. Instead, he was stuck at the Capitol, looking to steal in to get his TARDIS and hopefully help end the rebellion.

"This turned out to be a bit more of an adventure," he said. He wondered, he often did, why the TARDIS had brought him and Rose to Panem. Maybe she just did it because she was acting up again. That was probably the reason.

The Doctor sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"This is going to be a long week," he said.

* * *

One afternoon, a few days after Peeta had gotten shipped off, Rose was taking her normal walk through the district. She was getting better at walking longer distances, and her headaches, which she got nearly once every couple of days, were gone. Prim told her she was improving, though since she had endured several weeks of torture, she still had a while longer to recover. Nobody really paid any attention to her, and she didn't care that nobody noticed her. She simply kept walking down the halls.

Soon she came along to a part of District 13 she hadn't seen before. The halls were brighter, but still dank. It felt like she was in a tunnel of sorts when she suddenly bumped into someone.

"Beetee!" she said, looking to the older man. He was in his wheelchair, and she had only seen him a couple of times in District 13.

"Oh, hello, Rose," he said.

"What are you doing done here? Something secret for Coin?" Rose asked lightly.

"Actually, yes, so I must be going," Beetee said as he began turning his wheels.

"Wait, are you serious? You're working on something secret down here?" Rose asked, as he hurried on ahead.

"I'd rather not talk about it, Rose," Beetee said, as she followed him down the hall to a door, which had two District 13 soldiers guarding it. She stopped walking and watched as he put in a key and ID and said, "Dangerous business."

Rose looked back at him for a moment after he disappeared before she turned back and began to walk back to where she came. She could not think of what kind of thing Beetee was working on. He was a genius, she knew. Didn't the wire in the arena prove that he was brilliant?

Coin was having him work on something. She just didn't know what.

She probably never would have known what if she hadn't nearly slipped on a piece of paper that littered the hall. She caught herself before she could slam into the hard floor, though, and reached down curiously and picked up the paper.

"What's this?" she said. She read it. It seemed to be some sort of report containing things to do with bombs, like detonators and such. She looked back to where Beetee had gone and silently wondered if this had been his. It probably had, what other room was down this vast hall? None, that's what.

Nobody was coming racing back for it. She gulped, and slipping it into her pocket, turned and began walking again. The next time she saw Beetee, she was going to ask him about it. If there was something she had gotten from the Doctor on her travels, it was a hatred for violence. Even though she knew it was a war, she knew that bombs were extreme.

* * *

Jackson came up with a name for a game for Peeta: Real or Not Real. Everyone answered with "Real" or "Not real" when Peeta asked them a question about his past. Gale took the ones with things at school. Finnick and the Doctor added things from the Quarter Quell. The soldiers from 13 did the ones about 13. Katniss did the rest.

The Doctor passed many hours answering questions for Peeta about the mutts and alliances and all of that sort of stuff. Though he didn't like reliving stuff like that, he had an exceptional memory.

Things went rather well until one day they were fixing up for a propo using one of the pods. Everyone had to look like they were in agonizing pain, and the Doctor and Mitchell and Finnick had a good time making everyone laugh with their goofy faces.

"Pull it together, Four-Five-Oh," Boggs said with a chuckle as he moved about, checking the next pod. The Doctor calmed down enough to merely grin, which disappeared when he saw the pod blow up, taking Boggs with it.

Everyone looked, aghast, and another bomb boomed somewhere. Nobody noticed where it was, though, for everyone was rushing to Boggs, Katniss reaching him first.

"Bloody hell," the Doctor said breathlessly.

"Do something! You're a doctor!" said Homes.

"You know, I'm really not," the Doctor said as Boggs tapped on the Holo, breathing raspily. "I should be, though, for times like this. How are you doing, Boggs? Breathing well?"

"He has no legs!" Homes said.

"I know, don't you think I can't see that?" the Doctor said sharply, giving him a look.

"We should take him back to the camp," Jackson said.

"And what are they going to do for him there, Jackson?" asked Finnick frantically.

"Prepare to retreat!" Jackson suddenly hollered, and the Doctor and Finnick's heads whipped around to see a wave of something black and liquidous, if it could even be called liquid.

"What the hell is that?" Finnick yelled.

"Something that looks gel-like. Saw something like it on the Tar planet of Quoso," the Doctor said before turning back to the squad. "We might want to run away from it." He grinned, making Finnick look even more determined, and said, "I've missed the running. Oh, yeah."

The wave advancing toward them, everyone dashed after Katniss, who headed toward one of the abandoned Capitol buildings. The people who had lived inside were gone due to the close by rebels and pods lining the streets.

Gale and Leeg 1 blasted at rocks and Peeta freaked out ahead, making Katniss look shocked as she wrestled him off to Mitchell, who caught him and began to hold him down.

The Doctor hung toward the back, looking around him, the gun he assembled in his hands. There was going to be pods on this street, he knew, and they only knew the ones that Plutarch had put up.

They were probably operated with an electronic wave, and suddenly the Doctor stopped and reached into his pocket, which he was glad he had in his outfit. He fumbled and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. Pressing the button, he spun around, trying to get a signal. He brought it back to him and read it, and he looked on to where the activating pod was.

It was, as it would be, right next to Mitchell and Peeta, who were wrestling on the rubble covered ground.

"Mitchell! Peeta!" the Doctor yelled, but before he could yell near enough for them to hear him, a large claw and net engulfed Mitchell. Peeta looked scared as he rolled away. The Doctor looked at Mitchell, and could see spikes in the net covered in blood. He gulped before turning his head to see everyone hurrying into a house. He quickly ran to it, using his sonic screwdriver to make sure that he didn't activate any more pods. He already feel the wave of gel falling on him, and he skidded into the house as everyone hurried into the kitchen. Peeta writhed in people's hands, and he was eventually shoved into a closet. Leeg 1 immediately locked the door after him.

Gale came in last, coughing, "Fumes!"

"Non-toxic, though," the Doctor said, panting as he examined his sonic screwdriver. "Probably not good to breathe in, though."

"Block off the windows," Jackson said as Katniss and she hung over Boggs, whom they had managed to drag in.

"Yeah, probably a good idea," the Doctor said, and he pushed some off of his shoulder. He tasted it, made a blah face and said, "It's non-corrosive. More like a jelly, really. Wonder if it'd taste better on toast. . . ."

"Where's Mitchell?" asked Homes.

The Doctor shook his head and said, "He's gone. Pod took him out."

"Where's Peeta?" asked Gale, looking around, as he started to rummage through the drawers of the kitchen.

The closet near him shook, and the Doctor said, "That a good answer?"

The kicking continued and the Doctor looked and so did everyone else toward Boggs, who was limp on the floor.

"Is he gone?" asked Finnick.

Katniss nodded.

"We need to get out of here. Now. We just set off a streetful of pods. You can bet they've got us on surveillance tapes," Finnick said.

Castor nodded, adding a few words as the Doctor cleared his throat and looked to his sonic screwdriver. Now might be the time to say that he knew where and how to find the pods.

"You know, I've got a plan," the Doctor said. Everyone looked to him and he tilted his head, saying, "Well, not a plan exactly, more like I know something that might come in handy. Later on. Yes. Well, if we decide to get out of this house, which is too bright for my taste, almost in the mood for the greyness of District Thirteen, _almost _being the key word here-"

"What?" Katniss asked.

"See this?" the Doctor asked, holding up his sonic screwdriver. The sound of Peeta going against the closet door lessened as he ran out of energy.

"What is it?" Jackson asked.

"It's something called a sonic screwdriver. It's helpful on pretty much anything, 'cept wood. I'll . . . need to work on that. Anyway," he said, turning it on, making Leeg 1 look alarmed, "it can detect electronic waves."

"You mean it can find pods that Plutarch didn't know about?" Finnick asked.

"Well, yeah," the Doctor said. He smiled and said, "Yeah, basically."

Finnick looked to Katniss and said, "But, we can't go out there. There's that gel-"

"Can't we wait for it to go away?" asked Leeg 1.

"Yeah, and the Peacekeepers will be after us," said Gale. He frowned as he said, "They're bound to know that we're here, and they'll be after us the first chance we get."

"We can't just stay here," Finnick said. Peeta let out a loud kick in the background. He had probably gotten his second wind. "What are we doing?"

"Boggs . . . gave me the Holo," Katniss said slowly.

Jackson looked at her and said, "Give it to me. I'm second in command."

"Boggs gave it to her," Homes said as Katniss clutched it tighter.

Jackson was about to protest when the Doctor said calmly, "So, what's the plan, Katniss?" She looked at him incredulously and he nodded to the Holo, saying, "You're the leader, now."

Katniss was quiet for a moment before she said, "I'm on a special mission for President Coin. I think Boggs was the only one who knew about it."

"To do what?" Jackson wanted to know.

"To kill President Snow," the Doctor said, staring at Katniss. He knew a lot of the ways she went with decisions, and he knew that she had it out for the president. It made complete and utter sense.

That was the plan, then. After a discussion and several warnings and arguments over power and gas masks, which the Doctor said they didn't need ("Are you my mummy?" he joked to Jackson, who looked offended and annoyed), everyone took up their guns and Katniss turned to the Doctor and said, "Look, the cameras that are around are probably coated in gel. Nobody may see us."

"Do you want me to go ahead with you and keep on look out for pods?" asked the Doctor quickly.

"Yes," Katniss said.

"All right," the Doctor said, "but one thing." He held up his gun and handed it to her and said in a serious voice, "I'm going to do this on my own terms, with only my screwdriver. You all can use your guns, but I don't like guns, I really don't. So, I'm not going to have one."

"How are you supposed to protect yourself from Peacekeepers?" Katniss asked, shifting the gun in her hands.

The Doctor tapped his head and said, "Brains and wit over people with guns, Katniss Everdeen. Been using this weapon for years. Has only failed me a few times. Good enough odds, aye?"

Katniss nodded and so did the Doctor, and the two of them, Katniss with her gun and the Doctor with his sonic weapon, hurried ahead through the street. They all passed by Mitchell, who was nothing more than a couple of body parts that were not covered in gel. The Doctor looked guiltily at the pod and Katniss reminded everyone that they could go back to the camp now before any of them lost their nerve. They remained loyal, though, and Katniss told the Doctor to come with her as she led. The screwdriver beeped and the Doctor pointed to their left, yelling, "Might want to avoid that one."

The wave of gel became very deep and sticky, making it harder for them to run. Fortunately, the Doctor pointed his screwdriver all about before putting it away, saying to Katniss, "The wave took down the pods. We'll be fine until the wave starts going away."

They passed several activated pods, like tracker jackers that the Doctor recognized from pictures he had seen in District 13, and darts and large rocks that looked like they were glowing underneath the gel.

They came upon one of the Capitol apartments, and the Doctor used his screwdriver to unlock the door. He opened it and said, "Ah, haven't done that in a while."

"Everyone inside," Katniss said, and everyone listened, dragging in Peeta, who was struggling against their grip. The Doctor looked at him with a frown as they dropped him on a sofa, teeth seething despite the fact that the boy was out cold. He was definitely not cured.

The Doctor quickly darted into the home, which was nicely furnished.

"Lovely decorating, oh, I like this," the Doctor said, surprised as he spun around the room.

"It looks exactly like the other one," Finnick said.

"I still like it better," the Doctor said.

Katniss said, "We need to eat something. Is there any food here?"

"I know where some should be," Messalla said. "I used to live in this sort of place." He and Katniss and Gale started looking about and the Doctor flopped on the sofa besides Peeta.

Suddenly the TV flickered on, and Cressida quickly said that it was routine. Everyone watched as reporters pulled together stories of them being dead. It was quite amusing, actually, seeing as only two of them were dead while the rest of them were flopping about the apartment of a Capitol citizen.

"Do they actually believe that or are they deceiving themselves as well?" the Doctor commented as he pocketed his screwdriver.

"Finally, a bit of luck," Homes said as the TV replayed clip after clip of camera footage of them on the streets before the gel overcame the camera screens.

"Everyone thinks we're dead," Leeg 1 said. "My father, first my sister and now me. . ."

Snow spoke, making Katniss shudder. The Doctor shook his head and said, "Oh, he's in for a surprise."

The TV stopped showing that after a while and starting showing regular Capitol commercials of sorts.

"So now that we're dead, what's our next move?" asked Gale.

"Isn't it obvious?" everyone turned to see Peeta, who had awakened.

"Peeta! Nice to see you up!" the Doctor said cheerfully.

"What are we supposed to do next?" Katniss asked.

"Our next move is to kill me," Peeta replied calmly, looking from face to astonished face.

* * *

"Beetee, Beetee," Rose said, hurrying across the cafeteria, She spotted the man in his wheelchair at one of the tables with Annie and Johanna. It was strange, really, to see him out of his lab, but Rose quickly took this opportunity. In her pocket was the piece of paper she had found. This was probably one of the last times she was going to see him out of his lab, for he was there nearly 24/7.

He turned to her, and her hand held up the paper, a corner of it crumpled from her hand.

"I found this on the floor," she said. She looked confused as she said, "Is this yours?"

Beetee took a look at it and put on a nervous grin as he took it and looking it over, said, "Thank you, Rose. I was looking for this. Here, sit down."

Rose did not have her lunch yet, but she didn't care as she said, "It says it's something for bombs. You're building bombs, aren't you, Beetee?"

"Who told you that, Rose?" Beetee asked quietly.

"The paper!" Rose said angrily. "You're planning on making bombs and use those on the Capitol? I mean, guns are fine, I guess, not with the Doctor, but bombs? They could kill civilians. If the Doctor knew about this, I swear-"

"Miss Tyler," Rose heard, and she turned to see two guards coming toward her.

"What? What did I do now?" Rose asked.

"Probably best not to talk about military secrets in the cafeteria, Tyler," Johanna said sarcastically, as she took a bit of squash.

"Miss Tyler," another guard said.

Beetee said, "Rose, you can't say that around here. Be nice to her, guards-"

"Why? Can't talk about anything I want to anymore?" Rose said, irritated. She didn't care that people were watching as one of the guards grabbed her arm, saying, "We need to take you back to the hospital."

"Why? I'm fine!" Rose said, and that was all she could say before she felt a sharp pain and passed out.

* * *

The Doctor took one of the passed-around-cream-filled cookies, "Well, not a jammy dodger, but it'll do." They had just finished eating their supper after arguing with Peeta, who wanted to die. Not something that the Doctor wasn't familiar with. Sometimes he wished he could just die. 'Course, never tried to do so intentionally just yet.

At the moment they were filling up, and the TV switched on and they watched President Snow and pictures of them. It was with the Hunger Games. The Doctor couldn't help but laugh when they put up a blank picture representing him.

"That's what I look like, anyway," the Doctor said. He waved over his face and said, "Changing all the time."

Jackson and Homes threw him a look when a picture of Katniss showed up on the TV and Beetee must have been working electronic magic, for Coin was doing voice-over how she still is the symbol of the rebellion. The Doctor leaned, back, finding all of this amusing.

Beetee gave the controls back to the Capitol, and Snow, using in a controlled voice, said, "Tomorrow morning, when we pull Katniss Everdeen's body from the ashes, we will see exactly who the Mockingjay is. A dead girl who could save no one, not even herself."

The anthem appeared and Finnick said, "But you won't find her."

They decided that the Capitol would get annoyed and start looking for them when they didn't find the bodies. Jackson taught Katniss the basics of the Holo, which the Doctor wanted to know, so he watched as well. Jackson kept looking at him, for he appeared to be nodding at everything she said. He looked at her once and said, "It's FASCINATING stuff."

Next came about the way they were getting out. There was no going out on the streets, even though the Doctor flipped around his screwdriver for show. Underground was the only option.

"Oh, and I just stayed underground for weeks. Bugger," the Doctor said.

"Do you have a better idea?" Gale asked.

"No," the Doctor said, shaking his head. "Never said I did. Just offering a bit of opinion is all."

They tidied up the house, making it look like they had never been there. Threw away the trash and flipped over pillows and the like. Grinning, the Doctor was about to start a pillow fight with Leeg 1 when Jackson said, "Don't even think about it, Doctor."

"Fine, I'll stop being about to do it," the Doctor said, putting away the pillow. "But," he added, holding up his index finger, "I won't stop thinking about it."

Next problem was Peeta I'm-Not-Moving Mellark. The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and nodding toward their exit, said, "Come on, Peeta. Time to go. Let's hop to it."

"Snow's people are going to find you," Finnick pointed out. Peeta looked angry.

"Then leave me a pill. I'll only take it if I have to," he said.

"That's not an option. Come along," Jackson said.

"Or you'll what? Shoot me?" Peeta asked. He looked to the Doctor and said, "You won't."

"Yeah, I wouldn't," the Doctor said with a grin.

"We'll knock you out and drag you with us," Homes said. "Which will both slow us down and endanger us."

"Stop being noble! I don't care if I die!" Peeta said. He looked pleadingly to Katniss and said, "Katniss, please. Don't you see, I want to be out of this?"

The Doctor watched him before he said quietly, "We care, though. Peeta, why would you want to die? You got hijacked? So? You've survived two Hunger Games!" He leaned over to Peeta and said in a calm, understanding voice, "Look, I know things can look very, very bleak for a while. They don't always get better, but that doesn't mean that they never will." He said sternly, "Killing yourself is not going to help you."

"What if I'm captured by Snow?" Peeta asked.

"Well, with this crew," the Doctor said, pointing out everyone with their guns, "I highly doubt you'll get captured." Jackson began giving out orders, looking to Katniss for a nod.

They were going to go through several tubes to go into the sewage underground. The Doctor wrinkled his nose as they all stood near the shoot, the camera men stripping off their heavy and bulky suits, saying, "Do you mean we have to go to where all the waste goes? That's a bit gross if you ask me."

"Live with it, Doctor," Jackson said sternly.

"I have to, don't I? Oh, well," the Doctor said as they started filing down. They made their way down, and stood up straight once they were down ladders. The Doctor, sniffing, nodded; it didn't actually smell that bad. Apparently, according to Messalla, this was the cleanest part of the sewer.

Pollux grabbed Castor's hand and looked about miserably.

"My brother worked down here after he became an Avox," Castor explained to everyone, who were looking about. "Took five years before we were able to buy his way up to ground level. Didn't see the sun once."

The Doctor couldn't imagine sitting in an underground space for five years without seeing the sun once. He shook his head and Peeta said, "Well, then you just became our most valuable asset." While everyone smiled or laughed at Peeta's joke, the Doctor didn't.

Through the dozens of tunnels and changes and turns, Pollux helped Katniss and Jackson ahead of the group as they made their way through the sewage. The Doctor hung back with Finnick and Peeta, who was reluctantly walking along with them. The Doctor used his screwdriver on occasion, but got nothing. All he knew was there was some flickering lights lighting the way and it was late at night. Probably the middle of the morning.

They finally stopped at a station, which was a little room. Entering, the Doctor looked around excitedly and said, "Oh, buttons! Buttons and panels and levers and lights and oi, I like this! I can work with this!"

"We're not going to be working with anything, Doctor," said Jackson sharply, as everyone fell to the floor. She turned to Katniss and said, "And what are we going to do now, Soldier Everdeen?"

"Let's rest. Have a few guards that switch out," Katniss said wearily. Nobody objected and Katniss went to sleep as the Doctor and Pollux took the first watch.

Everyone snoozed and dozed and snored and the Doctor yawned and checking the panels, said quietly, "Three-oh-five. We walked a while, didn't we?"

Pollux nodded.

The Doctor looked at him for a moment before he said quietly, "Place bring up bad memories for you?" Pollux nodded and the Doctor said quietly, "I'm sorry - about what happened to you. Nothing like that should happen to anyone."

Pollux smiled in a sort of appreciative way. The Doctor added, "Sure you don't want to go to sleep? I can take this watch."

Pollux shook his head and the Doctor said, as though he had just realized it, which he just did, "You can't, can you? Really a lot of memories. All right, Pollux. You and I can just hang out for a while, then. 'Kay?"

Pollux nodded and the Doctor said, "All right." The two of them stayed up until someone else woke up and took the Doctor's place. The Doctor slept for a bit, though in his hearts he wasn't sleeping very much at all, for the nightmares were keeping him up.

He woke up, though, when he heard something being chanted. _"Katniss. Katniss. Katniss. Katniss."_

He looked about and saw that the words were coming out of Peeta's mouth, though they didn't sound like him. He frowned and said, "That's a bit weird, isn't it? Not natural, that."

**Thank you for reading! Hope you liked it, and please, leave a comment! :) Merry Christmas and God bless you! **


	11. Going Through the Sewers

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Doctor Who or the Hunger Games.**

It was very weird, especially when Peeta's eyes became normal, and he shouted in his regular voice, "Katniss! Katniss, get out of here!"

"Why? What's making the noise?" she asked, her bow in position to take him down in case he lunged at her.

"I think it was President Snow's mutts," the Doctor said quietly, though he was not quite sure. There was something not quite right around here, and having been to hundreds of thousands of different places, the Doctor was usually quite right when he got a hunch about something.

Peeta looked about and pleaded that they leave him there, but they all protested, and the Doctor reminded him of their conversation a few hours ago as everyone else divided the weapons. There was not enough weapons for the Doctor to have one as well, but he couldn't have wanted it any other way.

They headed out of the room back into the sewage, which smelled even worse than it did a few hours ago. It was early morning, and everyone was still very tired from their walk. Still, the Doctor kept rather chipper. That only made everyone else annoyed. He became less chipper, though, when they heard several long, angsty screams.

"Avoxes," said Peeta. "That what Darius sounded like when they tortured him."

"The mutts must have found them," Cressida said.

"So they're not just after Katniss," said Leeg 1.

"They'll probably kill anyone. It's just that they won't stop until they get her," Gale said.

Katniss said quietly, "I should probably go alone, then. Head to the mutts." There were immediate protests, the Doctor saying, "No point, Katniss. You honestly think you can get rid of us that easily?"

Katniss threw him a look and they hurried their way the sewer. Katniss gagged, and went up a ladder to a pastel walled floor that separated them from the sewage floor above. It was bright, but dark still, for it was below ground.

The Doctor looked about as he looked around from the ladder. "Oh, this is interesting. We still below ground?"

"Yeah," said Jackson.

"Cool," said the Doctor.

They started to walk carefully through. The Doctor hung in the back, and looked around, his attention firmly grabbed. Everything was so weird here, and that was something coming from the Doctor. "The Grinder" he had heard Homes mutter.

The Time Lord just turned to Messalla, saying, "Hey, do the other buildings in the Capitol have this running under them?" when he saw the young man caught in a golden beam of light. He stopped short, and said, "No, no, no, no, no, no, this wasn't supposed to happen!" He ran up to the beam and ducked when Gale shot two arrows at it in attempt to destroy it. The Doctor's wide eyes showed how anxious he was. He didn't realize that there was pods below the ground! Nobody had bothered to put any in the sewage system on the Holo. That was his first mistake, to assume that just because they were below ground meant that they were safe from the pods.

He gulped as Finnick called, "Katniss!" She turned just in time to see Messalla's flesh melt off of him like a candle.

The Doctor said, "Oh this wasn't supposed to happen."

"I thought you said you had your sonic whatever to find the pods!" said Jackson angrily, not moving and looking horrified.

"I didn't know that there was some below the streets! You could have told me there was some, you and your Holo!" the Doctor retorted.

"Look, don't point fingers! We need to get out of here, and soon," said Gale, looking from the Doctor to Jackson. He added, "Look, there's nothing more we can do. We need to move on before we're next."

Nobody moved, for they were all still looking, stunned, at the remains of Messalla. Peeta, however, moved about as quickly as he could yelling as he pushed each of them, "Can't help him! Can't!"

Floundering to find his feet, the Doctor brought out his sonic screwdriver and scanned ahead as everyone started dashing to the end, looking forward to an end not like Messalla's.

The Doctor looked to his screwdriver for a moment and pressed a button. A green button glowed from within his sonic screwdriver, making him look up with a worried look and say, "Looks like some undetected alien activity."

Guns were brought out, and shots rang out against white figures that were bounding toward them, claws outstretched, a dangerous look in their eyes.

"Wait, don't do that! They're aliens!" the Doctor said quickly, looking anxious as spots of red appeared on the white creatures.

Gale shook his head and said, "Those are mutts, Doctor."

"And they're going to try to kill us!" Jackson said loudly over the gunfire.

The Doctor looked shocked as the white figures came closer. They looked like giant, white, slippery lizards, with forked tongues and an urge to kill. They were manocs from the planet Exile, one he had visited with Sarah Jane once upon a time ago. They were not at all mutts that were Snow's. The Doctor hadn't seen them in ages, but he could recognize them. He could not stop the gunfire, for they were bounding over, evil on their faces, to kill them. The Doctor couldn't deny that.

"This way!" Katniss said, and the Doctor turned and yelled quickly, "Pod right there, Katniss!"

Everyone and hurried after her. There was a pair of large teeth and Katniss went to Pollux and asked loudly, "Forget the mission. What's the quickest way aboveground?"

They hurried after Pollux to a doorway, which they went through. The Doctor wrinkled his nose and said, "Oh, this is the real sewer!"

"Oh my gosh," said Peeta disgustedly.

"Just keep going!" Gale called.

The Doctor looked around, and turning back to Homes, asked loudly, "Wait, where's Jackson and Leeg 1? Aren't they coming with?"

"They're staying at the Grinder to hold the mutts back," Homes said grimly.

The Doctor gulped quietly but couldn't help but add, "They're not mutts. They're aliens. They must've been imported here or something, with Snow claiming that they were his!" Homes shook his head and they hurried ahead when they saw that the manocs had made their way through and were following them at a fast pace.

"Stand back!" Gale shouted, and the Doctor and Homes raced after Katniss, Finnick and Peeta. The Doctor looked back and stopped, though, to see that Gale was shooting down the bridge that was separating them from the manocs. The lizards were starting to slid down the bridge into bubbles, slithering and slipping as they tried to hold onto the bridge. Their tails beat against the bridge and they let out roars of annoyance as they started falling. Some managed to get up, though, and were moving faster and faster toward them.

The squad stood up and the Doctor stumbled back as they started shooting at the creatures, who had bits of flesh in their fingertips. Jackson's and the Avoxes' and Leeg 1's flesh. The Doctor suddenly felt not very sympathetic to the creatures, and frowning, said and did nothing as the rest of the squad shot at them, except for Peeta, who hadn't a gun.

"We've got to go!" Homes shouted over the shooting.

"Yeah, that might be a good idea," the Doctor said. He pointed to the ladder behind them and said, "Peeta first, move along."

"Get Katniss up there!" Homes said as Peeta hurried up the ladder. Cressida and Pollux hurried after him, daring not to stay any longer down in there.

"She won't come quietly, but all right," the Doctor said, and he shouted near her ear, "time to go, Katniss. They're fine. Let's go."

She didn't seem to hear him, and only automatically shot at the manocs. The Doctor sighed and said, "WELL, if you're going to be like that." He wrapped his arms around her and moved her over to the ladder, saying, "Well, Cinna designed a heavy suit."

He patted her shoulder and nodded for her to go up the ladder before turning and

saying, "Oi, who's next? Oh, Finnick, you're next, up you go, lad." Finnick nodded and hurried up the ladder, the Doctor turning to Gale and saying, "Well, come on! No point in staying down here! We can put a lid on the opening, come on!"

Gale nodded and shooting one last arrow, hurriedly turned and made his way up the ladder. The Doctor nodded and turned back to the manocs, which were within ten feet of him. He drew out his sonic screwdriver, and sent a surge of energy at them.

"Sorry," he said quietly, pocketing the screwdriver, looking at the mangled bits and blood all about their gorgeous white, sleek, bent bodies. With that, he hurried went up the ladder, not stopping once, and grabbed Gale's hand and got pulled out. He let out a breath on the ground and looking around, saying, "Is that everyone, then?"

"I don't know," said Finnick, breathing heavily. He gulped and said, "A few more seconds down there and we'd be gone."

"Yeah," said Gale, breathing heavily.

"Where's Homes and Castor?" asked the Doctor quickly. The three of them looked about, but they didn't spot him. "Where are they?"

"They stayed behind to keep the mutts down," Cressida said quietly.

The Doctor's eyes widened and he said, "I didn't see them. I thought they were already up." He realized that much of that ripped flesh must have been the two squad members.

He looked around, dazed, and he spotted Katniss kissing Peeta. That itself was peculiar, since the two of them had one of the worse relationships that the Doctor had ever seen. Peeta was always out to kill her and now she was kissing him. He couldn't help but watch them for a moment, and so, apparently, did Gale, for he cleared his throat when they were done and turned to Pollux the same time that Katniss did.

The Doctor stood up because Finnick grabbed his wrist and pulled him up to join them. Katniss told them all to follow her, and they all did so as she went up a ladder. The Doctor went up and he found that they were in a Capitol apartment.

"Oh, this one's even better looking than the others!" the Doctor said excitedly as he moved out-of-the-way for the other lads to come up the ladder.

He nodded and added, "And it's only the bathroom! Oh, I wonder what the rest of it looks like!" He started to walk, but he stopped when he saw Katniss shoot. He watched the arrow and it hit a woman looking like she was going to scream. She fell with a thud, and the Doctor instantly turned to Katniss and said, "Hey, what was that for!? She didn't do anything!"

"She was going to reveal our position, something we're trying not to do, Doctor," Gale said as they hurried out of the room.

"Yeah, I guess, but you didn't have to kill her!" the Doctor said.

"What were we supposed to do then, Doctor?" asked Finnick, who looked grim.

"I dunno, but just don't go and kill," the Doctor said pleadingly as he followed them into the living room.

"Can't afford that in a war, Doctor," Finnick said.

Katniss looked around and said quietly, "How long do you think we have before they figure out some of us could've survived?"

The Doctor looked around as Gale spoke and looked back as Katniss looked through one of the windows. "Let's check her closets," she said quietly.

"What are we doing?" asked Finnick as they found and started to search the woman's bedroom.

"We're going to disguise as Capitol citizens," Gale said, though Katniss hadn't said anything. The two of them practically knew what the other thought.

"Oh, dress up, then?" the Doctor said. "Anything to wear something other than this District Thirteen thing, no offense."

Cressida didn't seem to take offense as they began to dress up, as the Doctor said. He particularly had a good time, putting on very weird clothes like a ginger wig, which he was very excited about.

"Always wanted to be a ginger," he said as he patted it on. They all touched up on makeup, for though they didn't usually wear it, everyone in the Capitol wore makeup. They all looked to the Doctor as magnificent clowns, like ones he had seen in the Circus on Mussolinin on the planet Jokest. There had been a grand show, then, and the Doctor had gotten Rose a lovely prize from one of the game booths.

They stuffed their pockets with supplies and at the front door, Katniss said, "Stay together." Heading out into the snowy day, sirens blared, calling out to the Capitol that there were rogues loose in their fair city.

"Oh, that's a bit of a bother, isn't it?" the Doctor said, turning to Katniss. They had come out into a part of the city that didn't have any pods, for it had too many Capitol citizens living there.

"Cressida?" Katniss said, looking to the director.

"There's one place. It's not ideal. But we can try it," Cressida said, and they all started to follow her. She took them to what seemed to be a sort of open mall sort of plaza. There was several stores among the bundled up citizens and Peacekeepers.

"Talk like Capitol citizens," the Doctor said.

"What?" Gale and Peeta said.

"Blend in. Talk like you've lived here your entire lives," the Doctor said cheerfully. He turned to Cressida and joined her side and said in a very high pitched voice that had too much delight from the Time Lord, "Oh, I was looking for something for the winter months! Are you sure this has the latest style?"

Katniss looked like she might laugh as she added, "I heard that this place has every single color you could have want!"

"Let's hope so," Peeta said, and they followed Cressida, who added comments of her own, to a store that sold several dusty looking pieces of fur clothing. It looked dark and deserted, and the Doctor said, "Well, cheerful looking place, huh?"

"It'll work as a hideout," Finnick said. He had his head completely covered, for he had a face that was known everywhere.

The person that greeted them at the door reminded the Doctor a lot of the cat nurses he had met. This person, who was introduced to them by Cressida as Tigris, seemed to be just like a cat, stripes and whiskers and all. When the Doctor greeted her, she looked at him for a moment, and he swore she could purr. Whatever. The cat nurses could purr.

She led them over to a cellar, which looked dark and distrustful. The Doctor, though, knew that they had to trust someone in this city, and if she was a rebel, might as well trust. Especially to get out of his outfit. The makeup was beginning to inch. Maybe this was why he never changed out of his usual clothes when he went traveling to places where he'd stand out.

They headed down into the cellar, and Cressida and Pollux set out to make beds.

"Need any help?" the Doctor asked as Finnick helped Gale wash out his neck wound and Katniss went to Peeta to take off his handcuffs. The Doctor gave Gale's neck a quick over with his sonic. He pocketed it, saying, "He should be all right for the moment."

"I'll bandage the wound, then," Finnick said.

The Doctor nodded and meandered his way over to where the beds were made up.

"I think we're pretty okay here," Cressida said, dumping a pile of furs onto another large pile. She dusted her hands together and nodded to Gale, saying, "Aren't you a doctor?"

"It's more of a name, really," the Doctor said. "A name I chose for myself."

"You don't have another name, then?" asked Cressida.

"I do, I do," the Doctor said quietly.

"What is it?" Cressida asked, making Pollux look up from his job.

The Doctor cleared his throat and said, "Well, I'm going to go see if maybe I can actually help out Finnick. Not much of a real doctor, though."

* * *

They all fell asleep without a guard. The Doctor had nodded with Katniss, saying that there was no point in having a guard. Didn't matter, really. Who would be looking for the most wanted people in the city in a tiny, little cellar, in a dilapidated fur store?

When the Doctor woke up, he was not surprised at all when Katniss confessed to having made up the mission of going to kill Snow. It was obvious - to him. Going across the universe all the time, he had learned to pick up certain things like people. Katniss was someone he could read easily, and, well, she wasn't a good liar. Plans were coming together to do the best they could with what they had, which was not going to go well, since none of them had a good plan. The Doctor, having nothing, watched with a slight bit of amusement as the humans went around in circles.

They had a small supper and watched the telly report on the small TV on the store level of Tigris's store. They all watched with interest, though they all showed signs of being tired. Peeta looked like he was about to fall on the floor, and Katniss had dark bags under her eyes.

The Capitol had it narrowed down to the seven of them. They had decided that the rogue figure with the strange device in his hand was the Doctor. Though he didn't admit it, the Doctor had waved at one of the downed cameras. They must have noticed.

"Have the rebels made a statement today?" Katniss asked Tigris when it finished. She shook her head. Katniss sighed and said, "I doubt Coin knows what to do with me now that I'm still alive."

Tigris shook her head with a throaty chuckle. "Nobody knows what to do with you, girlie."

"Yeah, that's true," the Doctor said.

Gale shook his head and said, "Come on. Let's get back to the cellar." He rubbed his injury as they all went down the stairs, Katniss last.

The Doctor waited at the end of the stairs for her. "What's that?" He pointed to her hand.

"Leggings," Katniss muttered, tossing them to her pile of stuff.

"Oh, that's nice of Tigris," the Doctor said.

Katniss sighed and looking exhausted, said, "What are we going to do, Doctor?"

"Don't have a clue," the Doctor replied.

"Well, that's, as you'd say, _fantastic_" Katniss sighed.

"Exactly. I would say that, wouldn't I?" the Doctor said.

* * *

Rose woke up, groggy, not knowing exactly where she was. She looked around, her eyes barely open, and realized that she was in her hospital bed. The last thing she remembered as she sat up was confronting Beetee in the cafeteria. That would do it. They probably knocked her out and who knew how long she was out for?

Prim peeked her face in and Rose said huskily, wincing as she straightened into a sitting position, "Come in. Sorry. A bit out of it.'

"Sorry about having to do that," Prim said, looking very sorry though nothing that had happened was her fault.

"It's-it's fine," Rose said, waving her hand. She sighed and said, "I wonder what exactly they're doing with those plans, though."

"I'm not sure. Though, I think the end is coming soon," Prim said, sounding excited, but not very happy. She inserted another bag to the morphling and Rose let out a sigh as the drug started to fill her bloodstream. This was probably why she didn't feel anything but groggy.

"How do you know that?" Rose asked.

"I'm being sent out. To the Capitol," Prim said.

Rose instantly looked more awake. "How old are you?"

"I'll be fourteen in May."

"You're going out into the battlefield at the age of thirteen? That's crazy, why would Coin do that?" Rose asked. Just imagine if the Doctor was here. He'd be blowing up.

"They need nurses and doctors out there," Prim said quietly. "Coin asked me herself. I said yes. Mother is all right with it, though I'm feeling a bit bad about leaving her. She's been so lonely looking lately."

Rose could only look at her for a moment, and remember her own mother, who was loud and butting her head into things that didn't concern herself at all and was perfectly concerned and suddenly Rose wished she was with her mum, whom she hadn't seen in months.

"I'll be doing good work, though, helping the rebellion," Prim said brightly.

"I'm sure you will, but are you really going out into all that fighting and stuff?" Rose asked, looking concerned.

"I'm not sure," Prim said. She shrugged and said, "I'll be going where there's wounded people. I'll try to help them as much as I can."

"Yeah," Rose said quietly. Thing is, she shouldn't be so surprised. Prim lived in a nation where they didn't care where their children were sent to when it concerned death. Though, she thought that District 13, from what she had seen, valued life.

"I've got to get going now," Prim said. She smiled and said, "I just had to tell someone the news."

"Sure. Bye, Prim," Rose said. Prim bobbed and hurried out of the room, letting Rose, still groggy, lay back over her pillow with new thoughts to think about. After a minute or so, she suddenly sat up and disconnected the morphling from her arm with a determined look on her face.

**I cut this chapter into two parts or else it would be almost 10,000 words. Thank you for reading! Merry Christmas! God bless you! **


	12. Bombs

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the Hunger Games or Doctor Who. Most of this is owned by Suzanne Collins. I just added little twists to it. Look, I'm playing with timey-wimey stuff here. XD. God bless you! :)**

The next day rolled by. It was mostly to see how things went with the outside world while they rested themselves up. The Doctor spent a lot of time leaning against the wall. He rested his ear against the wall, and he swore he could hear Rose's voice in his mind. He was wondering how things were back in District 13. How they were taking the news of them being alive again. It was probably all a great confusion.

Gale, Finnick and Katniss had conversations about what they should do. The Doctor listened some, but since he heard nothing much of interest, he didn't add anything but stayed quiet, his eyes focused on the ground. He didn't know when, but something big was about to happen.

He, of course, was game to go look for the TARDIS, but knowing that their main concern was for them all to stay alive, he didn't say anything, which was a strange thing within itself, for the Doctor practically never stopped talking. There was always so much to talk about!

The next day, however, the Doctor couldn't take being in the cellar anymore. He paced up the cellar, annoyed, as his companions watched him, all sort of irritated.

"There's-there's got to be SOMETHING OUT THERE THAT'LL CHANGE THE WAR," the Doctor said loudly, making Cressida shush him. He nodded and sighing, ran a hand through his hair and waved his hands around. "I can't stay here anymore! I'm not good at, you know, waiting, for things to happen!"

"We can see that. What do you suggest we do?" Finnick asked.

"I don't know! You're smart humans! Think of something! There has GOT to be something! Oh, I am RUBBISH at waiting! How can you all wait for SO LONG?!" the Doctor said, looking to Peeta and Katniss.

"He finally cracked," Finnick said, though not unkindly. He looked rather concerned. Everyone knew that the Doctor was a strange person who claimed to not be human. It was just a matter of time for them before he lost it entirely.

"I've got to get out of here. I can't wait here any longer," the Doctor said, and he hurried up the ladder to the cellar, making Gale and Katniss exchange looks.

He knocked on the door and it was opened by Tigris, who said, "Supper's ready."

"Oh. All right," the Doctor said, nodding, calming down considerably. He turned to Katniss and Gale and said brightly, "Perfect timing."

As they ate, Katniss whispered under her breath so that only Gale and the Doctor could hear, "I'm heading out tomorrow."

"Brilliant, I'll come with," the Doctor said excitedly. "Be good to get out of here, no offense," he added, looking to Tigris, who was looking at him.

* * *

It was early morning, and Rose was sure that the guards around the hospital were going to see if they could get some sleep. She had found out from Johanna, who had come over to borrow her morphling, that things were getting tense.

"Things are coming to an end," Johanna said nonchalantly.

"They sent Prim, as a doctor or something, to the Capitol," Rose said.

Johanna shrugged. "Coin's got no problem sending in soldiers. She wants to win, you know."

"Johanna, remember the bomb plans I found and approached Beetee about?" Rose asked her.

"The entire cafeteria could see," Johanna said sarcastically.

"Johanna," Rose said, "do you want to see if we can find those plans in Command? He's bound to have given them to Coin. They're going to be doing something with those bombs, since it's going to be near the end of the war."

"You want to sneak into Command? I'm game," Johanna said grimly. She grimaced as she took off the morphling, and said, "Let's go."

"Yeah," Rose said, and the two of them made their way through the hospital halls. They made their way past the doctors, who were tending to their patients, and passed the guards. It being so early in the morning, they passed nobody in the halls. Both knowing where Command was, they were able to get there quickly. Johanna muttered an annoyed comment now and then, complaining about the pain in her body.

"They tried to wean you off of morphling, you know," Rose pointed out, almost like a I-told-you-so way.

"Yeah, so much for that, huh?" Johanna said, shrugging as they came upon the corner that turned to Command. They came around to see no guards around Command. "This should be easy," she added, hurrying to open the door.

Rose was sure that they would have a guard around the door to the war room, but instead she simply followed Johanna in, grateful that there was none that they had to sweet talk to get past.

Once in Command, Johanna looked over the war room and said, "Well, that explains the no guards."

"Yeah," Rose said, looking around Command for the first time. The entire place was filled with pandemonium. Soldiers were everywhere. Beetee was at a station, people rushing to assist him. Other commanders had headsets on as they shouted out orders to people on the receiving end of their talkies.

Multiple buttons were being pressed. Viewing stations had several plans pressed on them. Everyone had weapons on them, and on a giant screen, there was several little screens of people flying some sort of aircraft. There was footage of the Capitol, with rebels flying into action, guns going off. Snow covered many cameras, and there was crowds of people from the Capitol, all out in their clothes in the streets. A cameras was on Snow's mansion. President Coin was yelling out orders, pointing her hand around, having soldiers nodding to her every command.

Johanna was quickly walking over to one of the soldiers, and Rose was left to look around on her own, for even though District 13 was very particular about things, they weren't bothering to notice her, for they were too busy.

She walked along, taking everything in, and found herself near Beetee, who was pushing his eyeglasses up to his nose while his other hand typed fiercely.

"Beetee," Rose said, making him notice her.

"Rose! What are you doing here?" Beetee asked. He glanced to Coin and turning back, asked quietly, "Does President Coin know you're here?"

"I reckon she'll find out soon enough," Rose said. She glanced about his work station and said nonchalantly as she picked up a piece of metal, "What are you working on?"

"Something that doesn't concern you, Rose," Beetee said, almost worriedly. Rose knew that she was pressing into military business, but she was looking for answers, and this was what the Doctor did: He was always prodding into things where he shouldn't.

"Bombs?" Rose asked bluntly, putting down the metallic piece and looking to Beetee. "Johanna says that the war is coming to an end. Coin must be planning a bit attack. Does it include bombs?"

"Soldier Tyler," Rose heard, and she turned to see Coin looking down from her high stage to look down at her, her shrewd eyes trying to figure out how the hospital patient had gotten in.

"President Coin," Rose said respectfully.

"What are you doing here?" Coin asked quickly.

"Just . . . looking around," Rose said.

"You may go. Unless you are helping with the war, I don't want you in here," Coin said.

"I'm not doing anything wrong," Rose said. Coin started down the stairs to the ground floor.

"Just let her look around, President Coin," Beetee said, and she turned to see him looking at the president. "She's been tortured for information. Let her see the information that she was tortured for."

Coin looked quite poker for a moment before she said, "Very well, Soldier Tyler. You may stay. Don't interfere."

Rose nodded immediately and saluted for good measure. "Of course, President Coin."

Coin nodded before she turned and started pointing to screens of hovercrafts, shouting out orders in a cool, crisp voice.

Rose turned back to Beetee, and said, "Why did you help me?"

Beetee sighed and said, "Because we're friends, Rose. You're worried about the Doctor. Look around and see if you can find him." Rose knew that he meant the cameras, and she nodded a thank you before turning and looking around the large room. She hurried up the stairs to the large screen where there was several people calling into microphones, calling out orders.

Rose hurriedly searched the screens of the Capitol, searching hungrily among the colorful citizens for any sign of the Doctor. Amongst the screaming citizens were several hundred rebel soldiers, all with guns. On roofs were snipers and hovercrafts were moving in with more rebels.

Rose could see that the soldiers in District 13 were all mostly looking at screens with hovercrafts in them. She looked to them as well, and saw that they were busy moving quickly toward the Capitol. There was no sign of passengers than a couple of rebels on each one, though, and Rose stepped closer to the screens. Where were the rebels carrying if not soldiers?

It hit her suddenly. Her eyes grew wide as she said, almost to herself, "Bombs."

The hovercrafts were carrying weapons, and she just knew that they were bombs.

* * *

_Earlier that morning_

That morning they were all done up in Capitol style once more, though, the Doctor had to admit, they all looked a mite better than they did when they did their own makeup. Tigris seemed to especially look happy applying the makeup on his face.

"Thank you, Tigris," the Doctor said with a smile, once she was done.

She nodded, and was about to turn away when she said, her voice drawled and deep, "You want any whiskers?"

"I think I'm all right," the Doctor said.

"Never underestimate the power of a great stylist," Peeta said, making Tigris blush under all of her makeup.

Wishing them goodbye, Cressida and Pollux hurried out the door into the crowds of the Capitol. The Doctor watched them blend in with the homeless crowd, who had been booted out of their houses, for the rebels were getting closer. The Doctor grinned grimly. They decided, being wanted criminals (he was used to being one of those), that they would go out in groups. Peeta was going by himself, and Katniss and Gale in one pair, and Cressida and Pollux together. The Doctor had volunteered to go with Finnick with an excited exclamation. They were going to see if they could find the TARDIS.

Once Cressida and Pollux had disappeared, the Doctor turned from the window to Finnick and said, "Ready to go out there, pretty boy?"

"Yep," Finnick said, his gun slipping into his clothes, out of sight.

"I have a friend who likes going by Pretty Boy. Probably shouldn't use it for you," the Doctor said as they both went to the door.

"Okay," Finnick said with a grin. He turned and saluted Katniss and Gale, and the Doctor did the same.

"Remember. It's probably near Snow's house," Gale said.

"I remember. You remember not to get killed. Wouldn't know how to explain that to District Thirteen," the Doctor said before turning to Finnick and saying, "let's head out, then."

Finnick nodded and they stepped out into the blistering cold streets, and the Doctor managed to nearly walk into a bunch of children, all dressed with wigs and bathrobes.

"Oops, sorry!" the Doctor said, nodding quickly before turning away and walking a few hundred yards and a few corners. He looked up and nearly pulled out his sonic screwdriver, saying, "Oh, look at all the snowflakes!" He sounded delighted.

"Doctor," Finnick whispered quickly, pushing the Doctor's hand with the sonic screwdriver in it down, "we need to be subtle. Not stand out."

"I am most certainly doing that, Finnick," the Doctor said seriously. "Pushing people's arms around and whispering to them looks suspicious, though. We're trying to be subtle, not obvious, Finnick." He held up his sonic screwdriver quickly, Finnick looking around to see that no one else was watching, least of all the Peacekeepers who were roaming the streets, and pushing the button, spun around in a circle before he abruptly stopped.

"I'm picking up timewaves. Energy coming through the time vortex. Follow me now, Finnick. Keep up!" the Doctor said, hurrying along. Finnick managed to keep up with him as they weaved through several intersections, sneaking around the walls and corners. Finnick had to stop the Doctor from plowing into a squad of Peacekeepers.

"Is there always a lot of running with you?" asked Finnick.

The Doctor grinned and said, "That's the majority of it, yeah."

"You really run everywhere?" Finnick asked as the snow came down faster and faster.

"Mostly, yeah," the Doctor said. He looked and saw that there was more citizens in front of them. They were haphazardly clothed, from pajamas to bundled in coats and mittens. It was one of the stranger sights the Doctor had seen, but he merely shrugged and said, "Can you ID Snow's house, Finnick?"

"Yes," Finnick said quickly. He looked around the vast candy colored snow-covered buildings. One building did stand out, though; a big white house that was really a mansion, with pillars and what seemed to be gates around the big front.

"That's it," Finnick said, pointing to it.

"Yes, all right, move out, Team Docnick!" the Doctor said, and Finnick gave the Doctor the weirdest look he had ever given anyone.

"We need a team name. I combined our names," the Doctor said. Finnick just looked at him for a moment, and the Doctor, shrugging, said as they hurried, "I thought it was clever."

Finnick went first, being the one with the gun and the know how to get to the president's mansion. The Doctor was busy with his screwdriver, anyway. The crowd had turned into a vast pan of pandemonium, and he was fairly certain that no one was watching them.

There was several Peacekeepers around the president's mansion. They had their guns, and were shooting at the rebels, who, the Doctor decided, had decided to make their move. The Doctor watched the snow as they raced toward the mansion, saying, "Oh, isn't that poetic? The president must be enjoying this."

"Yeah, I guess so," Finnick said before, "GET DOWN!" The Doctor ducked, leaning against one of the candy colored buildings near the mansion, and missed being shot by a sniper.

"Well, so much for these costumes," Finnick said.

"Better take them off, then, I suppose," the Doctor said. He pulled off his ginger wig as Finnick started to undress his Capitol clothes. The Doctor sighed and throwing the ginger wig away, said, "So much for that, then."

He clapped his hands together and said, "ANYWAY, let's go, Finnick! The TARDIS is close by!"

"How exactly do you know that?" Finnick asked, his face showing that sweat and melted snow had mixed with his carefully applied makeup as he looked up, his gun in his hands.

"I can hear her. She talks a lot, especially when she's trapped," the Doctor said.

"She?" Finnick said as he quickly followed the Doctor along the pink building and over toward the mansion.

"Yeah, the TARDIS," the Doctor said, leaning against a building, his screwdriver out of his pocket and receiving a signal. "And she's being loud."

They made their way through the street that was toward the side of the mansion. Gunfire was all around them, and the sound of people screaming did and didn't sound promising.

A group of Peacekeepers several hundred strong appeared practically out of nowhere, and bullets started to fill the air.

"Keep down, Finnick," the Doctor warned. "Oh, poor dear. She's going to be awfully mad at me about this."

The president's mansion was large, tall, snow-covered foreboding and reminiscent of an old Washington D.C. building looking near the front. The Doctor and Finnick weren't paying attention to the front of the building, though, for they were at the side of it, taking a small breather.

"Think anyone saw us?" Finnick asked.

"Nope. Don't think so. Who'd try to go after rebels when we've got a gun?" the Doctor said with a sarcastic smile.

Finnick nodded and then he turned his head, saying, "Do you hear that, Doctor?"

"Hear what?" the Doctor said, turning to what Finnick was looking at.

"It sounds like animals, whimpering and screaming," Finnick said.

"Really?" the Doctor said, and the two started to walk slowly down the side of the mansion. Around the corner was a squad of Peacekeepers, all against the wall, all looking like they were guarding something.

"Get back, Doctor!" Finnick said, and the Doctor slammed against the wall back around the corner. Finnick hid around the corner, firing his gun, which had its point just behind the corner. Luckily, he had a good eye, and several bullets that hadn't been used, and he caught the Peacekeepers by surprise and hit them one by one.

The Doctor kept an even, frowning face when Finnick said, "They're gone."

The two of them headed around the corner and hurried through the flurry-like snow toward what the Peacekeepers had been guarding. In the wall of the mansion was bars like that of a prison cell, only a couple of feet tall.

"Whoa, stop there a moment, Finnick," the Doctor said; he kneeled in front of the bars.

"What's in there?" asked Finnick.

The Doctor frowned when they noticed several paws and claws trying to reach through the bars, their owners howling and roaring and pleading and crying.

"Those animals are animals from the planet Exile. Those are the Games' mutts, Finnick," the Doctor said, and he immediately started to scan the bars with his sonic screwdriver.

Flipping his gun behind his back, Finnick lowered himself to the ground and said, "So this is a laboratory?"

"No. This is a prison," the Doctor said. He stopped pushing the button on the screwdriver and explained as he pocketed it, "Your President Snow must have discovered the planet. Goodness knows he has the money and the ability. He's been taking the animals from there, beautiful, gorgeous things, and he's imprisoned them."

"For every Game?" Finnick asked, incredulous.

"Oh, yes. They normally live peacefully on their planet, but . . ." the Doctor said, hurrying to take out the bars, "I'm guessing years of being in cells made them go rabid. They probably injected them with stuff, too. Serums and things to make them go mad."

"Like tracker jackers. With the wasps and whatever aliens from . . . Exile," Finnick said. "Then those went native."

"They probably get put into the Arenas with special beams or something," the Doctor said grimly. He looked to Finnick and said, "Look, Finnick, it doesn't make much sense, I know, but we've got to get these animals out of here. They've done nothing wrong to be treated like this."

"I believe you, Doctor. But we just can't let them out," Finnick said. "They're mad. If they get out, they'll chew apart everyone here, Capitol citizens AND rebels. We're going to have to wait for this to be over. We can get scientists and people to work on them, to cure them, like Peeta."

"He's not cured, Finnick."

"I know, but you know what I mean. Doctor, think rationally," Finnick said.

The Doctor looked back into the prison with its clawing and yelling and annoyed animals and he knew in his hearts that Finnick had a point. It would be like releasing a hijacked Peeta against Katniss. They were practically programmed to kill.

He quietly took out his screwdriver and reimbursed the bars. He stood up next to Finnick, who said quietly, "Do you want to go find the TARDIS, then?"

"Yeah. Have they got a back door?" the Doctor asked.

"Snow? Highly doubt it," Finnick said, looking down the stark white building, which was even whiter in the snow. "There'd be guards. And a door to guard."

"Windows, then? Vents, shuttles, ladders to rooftops? Give me something, Finnick, you're going to have to give me something to get us to the TARDIS," the Doctor said. He gulped when he saw Finnick's face. "There is no other entrance into the mansion, then? That means we're going to have to go through the front door. . ."

"I guess so," Finnick said. "We better go, Doctor."

"Yes, yes, yes, we'd better hurry, before Coin destroys our way to the TARDIS."

Finnick hadn't the time to ask the Doctor what he meant by that, for the Time Lord was hurrying around the next corner, and he wasn't armed. All around the mansion were candy colored buildings, and there could be any citizen coming out of their house to see the Doctor, a wanted man, or whatever he was. Finnick hurried after him and they came upon a large amount of people being shot by snipers, who had managed to get onto the rooftop of the mansion and the building next to it. The Doctor stopped short and looked to Finnick. "How'd they get up there if we can't?"

"Hovercrafts, maybe. They probably got inside to get to the roof, maybe, though I highly doubt it." Finnick was right. If the rebels had gotten into the president's mansion, there probably wouldn't be so much gunfire around them now.

"We have to get through this alley to get to the front street," the Doctor said. He frowned and looked at his screwdriver. Turning to Finnick, he said, "When I say "run," you won't be able to shot. Do what I do."

"Which is what?" Finnick asked, looking handsomely confused.

"When with the Doctor, do what I do. Run," the Doctor said excitedly, and with that, he dashed through the alley of people. Finnick, looking confused, hurried after him. The snipers had their guns ready to shoot at them, but ahead of Finnick, the Doctor was pressing the buttons to his screwdriver, and the snipers were looking at their guns, confused as to why they weren't shooting.

The Doctor dashed around the corner and slammed into a metal gate. He hissed out in pain and Finnick came after him, panting violently.

"What was that?" Finnick asked, looking at the Doctor incredulously. "What did your screwdriver even do?"

"It sucked the energy, the blast power from the guns. Only for a little while, though. Didn't even know if that'd work. It did! Isn't that just brilliant?" the Doctor asked. He pocketed the screwdriver, saying, "Don't think it could do it again, though. Used a lot of sonic energy, it did."

He looked to his side and banging his hand against the metal gate, he frowned and said, "And WHAT is this? A gate? For what?"

"Doctor?" asked Finnick.

"What is it now, Finnick?" the Doctor asked, and he looked up. Ahead of him and Finnick was several metal gates, and they were quickly being filled with colorful children. From babies to teens to tots to children, the rainbow and snow-covered youths were being carefully placed in their pens. Peacekeepers were running to cover all sides of the pen.

"Oh," said the Doctor. "What the HELL are they doing?"

"They're penning children around the president's mansion. Snow wants to be protected. They're making a human shield, Doctor," Finnick said, looking around before looking at the Doctor with a grim face.

* * *

At the same time that the Doctor and Finnick were watching the human shield gather together, Rose was watching the cameras that were taking footage of all of this. She looked away from the cameras. Bombs. THERE WERE BOMBS IN THOSE HOVERCRAFTS. She looked quickly over to Coin, who was looking rather calm as she smiled and pointed out to the soldiers.

She quickly walked over to the president and said, though she knew that she might be thrown out for interfering, "President Coin?"

"Yes, Soldier Tyler?" President Coin said, quickly turning with a frown to her.

"Where are those bombs going, anyway?" Rose said, sounding as curious as she could as if she was just wondering instead of inwardly panicking.

"The Capitol, Soldier Tyler," President Coin said crisply before she turned away.

"Where in the Capitol, President Coin?" Rose said, less curiously.

Coin pointed to one of the screens and said, "Soldier Tyler, I'm only telling you once, so listen now. No more questions. I don't have time to answer your curiosity. I have a war to win. Snow has a human shield around his mansion. Penned up children. We're going to get rid of them quickly and easily."

Rose's mouth dropped open. "You're joking."

"Far from it, Soldier Tyler," Coin said quickly before she turned and started to call out more orders to the soldiers that were dashing about, speaking rapidly into their headsets to the pilots of the hovercrafts.

Rose watched, shocked and not knowing what to do, as Coin hurried to the wall of screens and called for a headset. Rose watched as one was eagerly brought to her, and she outfitted it around her perfectly uniform hair.

Looking at her, prim and clean while she watched a war that she was leading that was about to get bloodier, made Rose frown and feel like rage was burning up inside of her. The Doctor would be throwing a fit in here if he were here. He wasn't. But she was.

She quickly began walking around, watching the man who had just given Coin a headset. Maybe he'd return to where he had gotten it.

He didn't. He went to another group of soldiers and started to move figures over a map. Shaking her head, Rose looked around once more and after a couple of hasty minutes where time seemed to flow out of her hands, she managed to see one of the soldiers at the screens take off his headset and go to take a break of sorts. He was at the very end of the long wall, and he looked like he was sneaking off, like he hoped nobody noticed.

Well, he didn't do such a good job doing that. Rose smirked as she sneaked over to his spot. She slipped on his headset and looked up to the screens, which suddenly seemed big and blurry. She let out a breath and looked up again, and things were clearer. She looked down at the control panel and wished that she had the Doctor's screwdriver or something to give her a bit of instruction.

She looked quickly at the buttons before she looked to the other soldiers, who were talking rapidly to the pilots of the hovercrafts. She watched, between the screen and the soldiers' hands, as the soldiers moved the levers and gears to focus the camera on the outside of the Capitol and the inside of the hovercraft.

She looked in front of her, and saw that she had the same sort of thing. Watching back and forth between the soldiers and her own fingers, she moved the cameras so she could see around.

"Soldier Flacken?" she heard, and she almost let out a shriek as her eyes widened and her hands clamped over her ears. She had forgotten that the headset was on. "Soldier Flacken, are you there?"

"This-this - Soldier Flacken is away. This is Soldier Tyler. How can I help you?" Rose said hastily.

She could practically hear the questions running through the pilot on the other line, and she looked up to the screens to see him looking at his crewmates incredulously. "Look!" Rose said quickly, an idea coming to her, "President Coin has asked - ordered for you to fall back to District Thirteen. NOW."

"Fall back? Is she crazy? We can't do that. The bombs are set to detonate. We can't go off course, we're set to go with the plan!"

"And send bombs into the Capitol where there are HUNDREDS of rebels?!" Rose said quickly, in an accidentally very loud voice. She looked around but saw that everyone else was talking as loudly as she was. Looking around the screens hastily, she couldn't help but notice something. By the mansion was a bunch of children with white Peacekeepers all around them.

"That was Coin's original plan!"

"Look," Rose said quickly, looking around to see if anyone was watching. She had another idea, for she knew that she couldn't override Coin's plans. "Look, just - I need you to have a microphone to the crowd. Do something, I need to speak to the crowd!"

"Can't, we're at the Capitol," and all that Rose could hear was a buzz, and she looked up to see that the pilot had stopped talking. She watched, horrified, at one of the cameras that caught sight of the Capitol. Parachutes, like the ones from the arena, fell from the hovercrafts, including from the one she had just been talking to the pilot. Instead of helpful supplies, however, they burst with bombs, and Rose could see several dozen giant spots of red, dark blood spot the snow.

She instantly removed her headset to avoid the shouts of triumph from the pilot and his crew, and she could hear the soldiers at the panels cheering. Coin was nodding to herself, and she raised a hand, saying, "Wait for it again."

Again? What did she mean by again? Rose, a hand covering her mouth after she put the headset back on, realized something. Again. The bombs. But all the hovercrafts were turning away from the mansion. They didn't have more bombs, did they?

But they already had the bombs in with the children.

Rose's eyes widened. The bombs were going to off again.

"Hello? Pilot, pilot, TALK TO ME, PLEASE!" Rose said hastily into the headset. She looked to Coin, but she was ignoring her as everyone grew loud again.

"Yes?" she heard.

"YES! I NEED YOU TO EMPLOY A MICROPHONE, SOMETHING, ANYTHING! I need to speak to the rebels on the battlefield, RIGHT NOW OR _I swear-_!" She heard a click, and she added in a low, dangerous voice, "Coin said so."

"Fine," and she heard a click. "Talk."

"Doctor!" Rose said as loudly as she could, ignoring the fact that there would be people turning to listen to her. "Doctor, the bombs are going to go off again!"

She turned to the screens once more, and saw that there was white clothed figures darting into the barricade. Doctors. Nurses. She gulped when she heard the soldiers coming to her, Coin shouting an order, but she called out in a sudden pained voice, "Prim, get out, GET OUT OF THERE, PRIM, RUN!"

Realizing who was going in to help the Capitol kids, her words ringing in her ears, "I'll be going where there's wounded people. I'll help them as much as I can," Rose took off the headset as guards instantly grabbed her, a needle hitting her skin. Didn't matter. Number one instruction when with the Doctor. "Run."

That's what she told her. "Run."

* * *

_At the concurrent time_

"This is bad," the Doctor said, looking around with a pained look.

"Doctor, we've got to go," Finnick said. "We need to get away from here. There's no way we can get into the president's mansion when the front's surrounded!"

"Yeah," the Doctor said, taking in the sight. It was most peculiar, and the Doctor had never seen such a selfish leader that he took the children of the citizens of his nation and used them to protect himself. He knew that the rebels valued life, and knew that they wouldn't kill innocent children. How would the war go if the rebels couldn't invade the mansion, take the president? Was there going to be a stalemate?

He frowned and followed Finnick down the crowd of citizens, Finnick brandishing his gun to make people move. The Doctor looked around at the terrified and pointing fingers of the Capitol citizens, and he looked away, shaking his head.

Suddenly, he noticed the sky getting darker, and he said, looking at the sky, "Finnick, hovercrafts."

"Hovercrafts?" Finnick said, looking up as well.

"What are they doing here?" the Doctor said to himself as they passed over them and stopped near the mansion. Things fell from the bottom of the hovercrafts, and Finnick quickly said, "Parachutes?"

The Doctor looked around, confused and uncertain, and that was when the bombs went off.

Bombs. He looked startled, for though he was several dozen yards away from the barricade, he could still see it. The damage. The death. The bloody limbs, the crying children, the smell. That DISGUSTING smell.

Looking around wildly, he saw something. Something moving, and it looked like a bunch of white birds almost, flocking toward the barricade, pushing people away as fast as they could as they raced to the confused and dying children.

Then he heard his name. It echoed through the city, against the pink and purple and orange buildings, filling every person, every rebel and Capitol citizen's ear. "DOCTOR!"

"Rose?" he said automatically. He looked around wildly, wondering how her voice had found its way into the Capitol. Did she get captured? Was District 13 overtaken by the Capitol and its people taken into the Capitol? Where they going to use her for bait to catch him?

"Rose," he said again.

He heard her voice again, sounding urgent. "Doctor, those bombs are going to go off again!"

What! Why? There was already District 13 nurses and doctors entering, and he noticed something as he hurried over to the barricade, not sure what Rose expected him to do, but knowing that closer to the barricade he got without getting blown up, the better.

He didn't run, as he usually did. He wasn't able to. The AMOUNT OF PEOPLE THERE, HE SWORE. He hurried, though, and that's when he heard, "Prim, get out, GET OUT OF THERE, PRIM, RUN!"

Prim, hearing her name, stopped at the door to the fence, and whirled around. The Doctor could hear her name getting called once again, and she instantly started running, though she didn't look like she could get far. She ran, as far as she could, yelling, "KATNISS? KATNISS!"

The Doctor stopped, and looked dazed, and ducked as the bombs went off a second time. It was a bigger blast, but it was still rather contained in the barricade. Still, it covered lots of the circle, though he was far away enough not to get thrown back.

Once the smoke was able to get through, the Doctor darted forward, and then he hissed to himself when he realized that his arm and hands were sizzling, ash falling from the explosion. Sizzling. It wasn't fatal, but the pain was starting to overtake him. He let out a yell of pain, and decided. Orange light swam around his torso, his limbs, and when he looked down at them once again, he saw that his skin was perfect.

Dashing, he rushed to Prim, his screwdriver in hand. She was laying on the ground, her back facing the air.

"Prim, Prim!" he said, gently turning her over. He could see that her face was burning red against her closed eyes. Checking her pulse, he could tell that she was still slightly alive.

He didn't know why. He knew that he wasn't supposed to twist time. Maybe it was time for Prim's death. But that didn't stop him from examining her with his screwdriver and saying, "Prim, oh, Primrose Everdeen, come on!"

Her face was so burned away now that he knew that she had passed the line of no return. He was surprised even that she managed to make out an audible, "Kat . . . niss. . . . . ." before her body went fully limp. The Doctor whispered, "No," and carefully laid her back on the ground. With grave eyes, he whispered, "I am so, so, SO sorry, Prim," and having exerted so much regeneration energy on himself and having the whole of the situation painful, he blinked rapidly before he let out a low groan and blacked out. Right before the fighting picked up with a vengeance.

**Well, Finnick survived. Yeah. Thanks for reading! God bless you! **


	13. Heading Along

**Thank you, God, for everything.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the Hunger Games or Doctor Who. LAST CHAPPIE WE CAN START FREAKING OUT NOW. XD. Thank you for reading! God bless you!  
**

Rose couldn't keep the frown off of her face. She was in a hovercraft, one she should have been on weeks ago. She was heading to the Capitol, to the president's mansion, where the Doctor was waiting. He had called her, saying that the TARDIS was locked away with locks even his sonic screwdriver couldn't unlock, and that he would have to stay there a while.

Coin had thought that the hospital patients were the last people to head over to the mansion, so Rose (and Johanna) were still under a bit of guard but untouched since Katniss had them in her contract. This was probably Coin's way of dealing out their punishment for sneaking into headquarters and disrupting their plans. Johanna had smirked and told Rose bully for her for warning the Doctor.

"Making Coin mad is the only thing we've got left, hey, Rose?" Johanna said from when she was given visiting time.

Now the two of them were strapped (properly, for once) in a hovercraft, heading to the Capitol.

The war was over. The rebellion won, and while District 13 was ecstatic in their own contained sort of way, there still had been a many things to do. Rose hadn't done much except sit in her bed and roll her eyes at the doctors administering more morphling to her, saying that she was mentally disoriented. She wasn't at all. She had been worse than this. They just needed an excuse to keep her under their care.

All that was gone now. She was heading to the Capitol. She had received one phone call from the Doctor while she had been at 13 two weeks after the big battle. He relayed the story of Prim's death. Rose had needed a bit of time after that. Her warning hadn't worked, it seemed, and she had been stuck in District 13 for a few more weeks because of it. He had managed, after a while and screwdrivering and pliers and bribing to the president's men, to locate the TARDIS. She was acting finicky, though, and he had to fix her up. After all, she hadn't been doing too well, for she had dropped them off at Panem. He would have it done very soon, though.

He told her in their monitored phone call of Katniss reacting devastatingly to her sister's death and Peeta's attempt at recovery, which was going rather well. He made her laugh and cry and feel all around better once the ten minute phone call was over.

Annie was right next to Johanna. Apparently she had had grand news that made her have to stay in District 13 near the good medics while the medics at the Capitol took care of the wounded. Still, she was brightly smiling at the thought of relaying the news of the baby to Finnick, who miraculously suffered nothing but a bunch of bruises from where he had to fight his way out of a bunch of citizens made of men who recognized him and tried to show their girlfriends that they could beat up a victor. Needless to say, he had won the fight, seeing as none of them had so much as raised a punch to a man before.

One of the guards said after a few minutes, "We'll be there in less than five minutes."

"Am I allowed to look out the windows, or am I endangering someone again?" Johanna asked.

The guard said nothing, making Johanna roll her eyes and Rose smile. They were over the Capitol now. In less than half an hour, hopefully, she'd be reunited with the Doctor.

Twenty minutes later, the hovercraft came to a standstill, and the guards unclipped the three ex-tributes from their seats, and they were led to the ladder.

Annie was taken down with assistance, but Johanna and Rose shook their heads to help. They were both practically fine now. Physically, anyway.

They were on a roof, which was a landing field, of a center of sorts, and they headed down an elevator and were taken through the streets to the mansion in a car. Rose looked through the window, watching the people walking by gunpoint, the torn up streets, the buildings getting their repairs. She sighed and closed the window back up. It was getting too cold.

They passed through several guards and stops but managed to park near the front of Snow's mansion. Rose stepped out into the sharp breeze and looked up to see large doors, white marble steps and huge, bulging pillars. Just like they looked on TV.

She hurried up the stairs, Johanna hurrying behind her and Annie lagging behind. The doors were opened by soldiers from District 13, and Rose was met with a scarlet red rich carpet, leading up to a vast grand staircase that had the doors to the entire upper floor visible. Looking around, there was awards and honors on the walls and pictures, Guards were at every door.

Rose looked around a minute. Johanna said, "Well, look who was living in the lap of luxury." She looked to Rose and said, "Come on, Princess. Let's go find your prince."

"The Doctor isn't a prince," Rose said as she hurried after Johanna, who was waving away their guards.

"Yeah, to everyone else. Hey, where is the Doctor located?" Johanna put her hands on her hips and looked at the soldier boy who was guarding the door.

"Down this door, and you continue until you can find the room that makes weird noises," the soldier said.

"All right. Thank you," Johanna said sarcastically, and Rose hurried after her through the door.

They were in a vast hallway that had its walls covered with pictures. Pictures of tributes in varying sizes, with weird frames and words that looked almost Latin under them. Rose looked at them for a moment, dazed, until Johanna said sharply, "So where are we going to find the Doctor, huh?"

"Like he said," Rose said, looking to Johanna. She grinned and said, "Just follow the sound of the noise."

After a bit, they did hear the noise that the soldier was talking about. It sounded like a combination of glass breaking, things clattering, pots banging, something going boing and the sonic screwdriver. Around a corner and they were at a door that had a blue sign that said, "Hello, humans! Knock please, or I might zap you. Accidentally, of course. Wouldn't want to hurt any of you without reason."

"That's him," Rose said after looking at Johanna's weirded out face. Rose quickly knocked, and she could hear the Doctor say, "Come in! Oh, dear, stop, I'm TRYING!"

Rose smiled and quickly pushed open the door. Walking in with Johanna behind her, saying, "Well, he's officially weird," she saw a bunch of stuff laying all about the room. Tools were scattered everywhere, ranging from nails and screws to hammers and the other screwdrivers. There was a broken glass something and wires and cords, and something that resembled fog or smoke coming out of the TARDIS's open door.

"Doctor?" Rose called, craning her neck out a bit.

"Rose!" and he appeared out of the TARDIS, his hands full of something that looked to be something to be thrown in the trash. He dumped his stuff unceremoniously on the ground while Rose grinned and raced toward him.

He caught her and hugged her as hard as he could once she was in his arms.

"Oh, it's been a while, Rose Tyler!" he said, a grin on his face as he drew back, looking her over. She was still wearing her District 13 outfit, but was looking loads better than she had when he saw her last. Her blonde hair didn't look so straggly and her grin was wider as she hugged him again.

"Much too long, Doctor," she said, and they let go of each other, and she looked to the TARDIS and said, "I heard she was acting up."

"Wellllllll, she's been acting a bit sick. Pretty sure that's why she brought us here. Wasn't reading the coordinates right at all," the Doctor said, and the TARDIS let out a temperamental hiss. He frowned and said, "Oh, come on, you know that I didn't mean that!"

Rose laughed and he turned back, saying, "Though, if she cooperates, we can leave this afternoon."

"Really?" Rose said, looking happily incredulous.

"Yes," the Doctor said. He frowned, though, and said quietly, "They're planning on executing President Snow this afternoon. I'd rather not be here to witness it."

Rose nodded, and she understood how he didn't want to see it. He knew that President Snow deserved it, and he knew that President Coin was not going to not do it. He could try to help them forgive President Snow, though there were few things that were unforgivable.

Rose looked around the room as the Doctor bent to pick up some of the cords and she said, "Where'd Johanna go?"

"Dunno," the Doctor said. He straightened, his bunch of cords with a few stray wires that stuck up at odd angles spilling out of his arms, and said, "Want to try to help?"

Rose laughed and said, "I don't know if I can. I'm not very good with time machines."

"All right. You can chat with me instead. The TARDIS has given me a rather annoyed silent treatment. She likes to hold grudges," the Doctor said as he entered the TARDIS. Rose followed him into the time machine, and she looked around excitedly at finally seeing the TARDIS after months of being separated from her. She looked the same. Somewhat dismantled near the flooring, but that was the Doctor's handiwork as he dropped into the three-foot hole in the floor.

He started working away as Rose sat down, cross-legged, by the edge.

"How's she looking?"

"Wellllll," the Doctor said, sticking two wires together that singed and smoked, "just a little while longer."

"Okay, then," and Rose, taking a breath, added, "tell me everything."

"What?" the Doctor said, his head popping up.

"You couldn't tell me everything over the phone. Tell me everything now," Rose said, and she looked determined as she said, "I won't take 'no' for an answer."

The Doctor sighed and for a couple of hours, he told her everything that happened. From the camp to the pods to sausages to the caged aliens.

"What happened, or is going to happen to them?" Rose asked above the sounds of a drill.

"They're going to be shipped back to their own planet. Using Snow's ship, they should be able to. I'd take them in the TARDIS, but they said 'no'. Oi. Anyway, thank goodness. Took a while for me to convince the rebels to take them back. Coin said it was a waste of money."

Rose looked rather shocked when he said he had used regeneration energy to fix his burns.

"You can do that?" she asked.

"Not all the time, but yeah. I mean, if I did it all the time, I wouldn't have gotten past my sixth regeneration." He shrugged. "I can use it. On occasion."

He continued after Rose nodded for him to, and he got to the part with Prim.

"She . . . was only thirteen. Who sends thirteen-year-olds to war, Rose? Honestly! It practically was like the Hunger Games, the way that there could only be ONE winner," the Doctor said angrily.

"We tried," Rose said quietly.

"Yeah," the Doctor said, climbing out of the hole so that he was sitting next to her on the edge. "That's all we could do, really, I guess."

A few minutes passed, and Rose leaned against the Doctor's shoulder. He leaned his own head against her's, and said, sighing, "After that, we were taken here, Katniss has been a wreck. Finnick's been making knots out of everything. Gale's been shipped off to wipe up Peacekeepers, whatever that means. We've all been keeping ourselves busy in our own ways."

He cleared his throat and they both sat up straight.

"You done?" Rose asked, looking at the hole that was nearly filled.

"Yep," he said, his legs swinging back and forth. "Want to go say goodbye, then?"

"I guess we should, shouldn't we?" Rose said as she got to her feet.

The Doctor pushed the floor tile back into the floor and wiping his hands on his suit, he nodded. "Let's go."

They linked elbows and headed out of the room. Down the halls, asking guards when they had to and they found themselves outside of a room that looked rather important.

The Doctor knocked, Rose leaning against his shoulder, and the door was opened by none other than President Coin. Her cold eyes and straight sheet of grey hair looked the same as it had when she had been in District 13, and she said, "Hello, Doctor. Soldier Tyler. Can we help you with something?"

"Yeah, can we come in?" the Doctor asked with a smile, and Rose smiled as well as the two of them hurried into the room.

Coin looked at them sternly as she closed the door. The Doctor ignored the look on her face and looked about the room. On a large curved sofa was an annoyed looking Johanna, a miserable looking Annie with Finnick next to her, an arm around her shoulders, a prideful Enobaria, Beetee, Haymitch, Katniss, and Peeta, all watching the three of them who were standing up.

"Hello there!" the Doctor said. Looking around, he turned to President Coin and asked, "What are you all doing here?"

"We have just come to an important decision, Doctor," Coin said smoothly. "There shall be a new Hunger Games." (His face drained of color and Rose looked stunned.) "One for the Capitol children, especially for Snow's granddaughter."

"No. No, no, no, no, you can't do that!" the Doctor said quickly, all signs of his smile gone. "You just stopped the Hunger Games. You just stopped an event that had CHILDREN KILLING each other! Why would you want to bring that back?"

"It's for Snow. To show that even the president that ran Panem cannot escape punishment for his crimes," Coin said crisply.

"Isn't his execution enough?" the Doctor asked. He looked around. Katniss avoided his face, and so did Annie. Johanna stared defiantly back. Haymitch looked drunk. Peeta looked annoyed as well.

"The Doctor's right, you guys," he said. "We don't need another Hunger Games!"

"Yeah? Does Snow not deserve to go through what we had to go through, Peeta? He was the one who presided over them, marketed them. He liked the Hunger Games, Peeta. This last one should be for him," Johanna said sarcastically, looking dangerously annoyed.

"So even after all that's happened, you want fighting? You want killing? You don't want that," the Doctor said, looking around at the victors with sad, miserable, broken eyes. "You don't want any more killing. Believe me, I've seen what you've all been through. You don't want any more of that, even if it is revenge. It's not going to make you feel better." He gulped and said, "I know that for a fact. It doesn't make anything better."

Rose looked at the Doctor, concerned, but he straightened and said, "So do what you want. But, please, don't continue it." He gulped and said, "Rose and I came to say goodbye. We're going."

"Where are you going, Doctor?" Coin asked quickly.

The Doctor turned to face her and said, "To the stars, President Coin. Far away from here."

Coin looked slightly miffed as the Doctor turned to Haymitch and Rose headed to the others.

"Goodbye, Haymitch," the Doctor said with a slight smile, offering his hand.

Haymitch glanced at him and grudgingly shook his hand. "Bye, Doc."

The Doctor nodded. He nodded to Enobaria (he was still slightly annoyed with the fact that she tried to kill Rose in the arena, even though she was only forced to), shook hands with Beetee with a grim look on his face (remembering the bombs), hugged Annie and Finnick ("Nice meeting you, Doctor. Don't know what we would have done without you." "Yeah, well, hope you and Annie can go home and be safe and all domestic-y, like you both want to." "Hope so.")

He headed over to Peeta, walking around Rose who was hugging Beetee, and sticking his hands in his pockets, said, "Hello there, Peeta Mellark."

"Doctor," Peeta said, standing as everyone else did. "I'm-"

"Don't apologize," the Doctor said. "It wasn't your fault."

"Think I'll ever get better?" Peeta asked quietly.

The Doctor smiled and nodded. "Not totally, but you'll get kind of normal. As normal as you can get, anyway."

Peeta nodded and the Doctor nodded as he turned.

"Doctor?"

He turned to see Katniss. He had seen her a few times in the president's mansion. He had seen her in the hospital, tried talking to her with Haymitch when she was silent. When getting supplies, he'd see her on occasion walking around the mansion.

He smiled now and said, "Welllllllll, I guess you found your voice."

"Yeah," she said.

His smile faded and he said, "Hey, I want to say a proper sorry to you, about your sister. I tried, but things just - some things happen like that."

"Yeah," she said in the same tone.

The Doctor's face softened and said, "Come here."

She moved forward and he held her in a hug, wrapping his arms around her. She was just another human, really, one of the thousands he had met. He'd leave her with her own people to deal with the Hunger Games and her sister's death, but he'd never forget her. Hard to forget a girl on fire.

He pulled back and said, "You all right?"

Katniss gave him a corner of a smile and said, "I'm always all right."

The Doctor's face turned a bit with a frown and he said loudly, "WELL, goodbye Katniss Everdeen. Mockingjay."

"Goodbye, Doctor," she said, and the Doctor swung around to Rose. The two of them looked to Coin and he said, "WELLLLL, we'll just be going then. Bye then, President Coin."

"Goodbye, Doctor," she said in her professional voice, and the Doctor and Rose nodded and waved to the rest of the people in the room before they headed out into the hall.

"She's scary," Rose said, looking back.

"All politicians are," the Doctor said.

They hurried through the halls and they came upon the room with the TARDIS. Collecting a few random pieces laying on the ground, the Doctor and Rose headed into the TARDIS. Rose put down her pieces and closed the door while the Doctor dumped his stuff and hurried to the console.

"Now, where to, Rose Tyler? The Alps? The Great Wall of Alban? What time? To five hundred B.C. or thirteen thousand years into the future? The possibilities are endless!" the Doctor said, looking around the console as Rose walked up the steps.

"I don't know," Rose said, and the Doctor looked up because she sounded tired, and Rose hardly ever sounded tired when she was on the TARDIS.

"Choose something. Anything," the Doctor said quietly.

"It doesn't matter," Rose said.

The Doctor walked around the console, and leaning against it, said, "Hey, it's been months. Want to head home to visit, see your mum?" He ended with a smile that grew when she nodded and saying, sounding relieved, "Yeah, that'd be nice."

The Doctor nodded and smiling, started pushing the necessary buttons and such.

"We've been gone a while," Rose couldn't help but say as the TARDIS started up.

"Yeah, and I'm terribly sorry 'bout that," the Doctor said.

"Don't worry 'bout it," Rose said. She sighed, though, and said, "It'll be nice having a cuppa of real tea, though."

"We'll be in London in JUST a minute," the Doctor said. He grimaced and looking at the TARDIS, said, "Let's just hope she doesn't start acting up again."

Rose couldn't help but grin at that.

**MY FEEELLLLLLS. Thank you for reading! Honestly, love you all! If you feel so inclined, _please review_! God bless you!**


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